Veratrin

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Veratrin glass around 1900
White Germer ( Veratrum album )

Veratrine is the name of a poisonous alkaloid mixture , consisting of cevadine and veratridine , which was previously often used as a remedy against ectoparasites (e.g. head lice ).

Veratrine comes in representatives of melanthiaceae as the White Hellebore ( Veratrum album L.) or Sabadill ago. Extracts from parts of these plants, especially the root and the rhizome, the stem growing under the surface of the soil, contain a poisonous mixture of alkaloid (amino, ester and glycoside alkaloids), which was used in medicinal preparations for various purposes: as "lice root" or "Krätzwurzel" found it against head lice, as "Feverstellwurz" against febrile diseases and as "Sauwurz" as an emetic for animals. In powdered form, Germer provokes a very violent sneeze, which is why it was also known as "hellebore" and was to be found as a component of Schneeberger snuff. Occasionally it is still used today as a lice vinegar or ointment in medicine and veterinary medicine to combat insects and as a homeopathic preparation for people with poor circulation. Depending on their origin and method of production, aqueous or alcoholic extracts have very different levels of individual substances and therefore very different effects with only low therapeutic safety.

It was isolated by Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Meißner .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gerhard Madaus: Textbook of biological remedies , Volume 3, Georg Olms Verlag, 1976. ISBN 9783487058924 . P. 2382.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Wiegrebe, Brief overview of the chemistry of veratrum alkaloids, Arzneimittel-Forschung (Drug research) 24 (1974), p. 288 ff.
  3. ↑ Alexander Tobien, Contributions to the Knowledge of Veratrum Alkaloids, Dorpat 1877.
  4. ↑ Alexander Zuber: Veratrin. On the history of the origins and effects of the Bezold-Jarisch reflex. With a facsimile of Ludwig Hirt's dissertation in Breslau. (Medical dissertation, Würzburg 1989) Königshausern & Neumann, Würzburg 1990 (= Würzburg medical-historical research. Volume 48), pp. 4–8.
  5. ↑ Hans Peter Büch, Physico-chemical and pharmacological properties of some Veratrum alkaloids, Arzneimittel-Forsch. (Drug Research) 24 (1974), pp. 493 f.