Datura stramonium L., also known as Jimsonweed, Devil’s snare or moon flower, is an annual flowering plant belonging to the Solanaceae family. Native from north-central America, it diffused largely in all the temperate climates across the world.
Datura stramonium has been used since ancient times during mystic and religious ceremonies due to its hallucinogenic effects and as herbal medicine to treat various health conditions such as fever, toothache, stomach and intestinal pain, insomnia, severe neuralgia among others. [1]
The consumption of large doses of D. stramonium negatively influence the central nervous system (CNS) and produces symptoms like confusion, hallucinations, amnesia, and bizarre behavior. [2]
Several incidences of accidental or intentional Datura stramonium poisoning have been reported from different parts of the world, when eaten directly or through decoction made from herbal prescriptions, owing to its toxic effects.
The Datura plant is also known for its larvicidal effects against red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum), mosquito repellent activities and its use against animal bites such as snakes in order to reduce pain.
The therapeutic applications of this plant are limited by its toxic effects, but a deeper understanding of its composition and adverse effects is necessary in order to fully understand the potential risks but also benefits associated with its use.
Botanical Description
The genus Datura is generally represented as annual or perennial herbs with glandular or more often simple hair. [3] D. stramonium presents a high variability, bushy, pubescent with tap root, fusiform, erect, cylindrical stems, sometimes hollow, generally with dichotomous branching, glabrous or pubescent, when young with reddish glands. The average height is 30 to 120 cm.
The leaves are petiolate and acute at the apex. They have an unpleasant odor and are of considerable size and disposed alternated on the plant. The margin is toothed-jagged. The petiole is generally crossed by a row of hairs in the upper part and when young it has some reddish glands.
The isolated flowers with short peduncles, are located in the axils of the branches or at the ends of the branches. The calyx is slightly swollen at the bottom, tubular, pubescent, with 5 sepals with welded lobes. The corolla, which is externally glabrous, is white, rarely violet and is funnel-shaped , 6 to 10 cm long. The ovary has a long style and bifid stigma.
The fruits are oval capsules, pubescent with short hairs and sometimes with reddish glands, divided into 4 lodges, bristling with spines 5 to 15 mm long ± equal to each other, glabrous or pubescent at the base. Inside them there are numerous kidney-shaped, black and wrinkled seeds (approx. 3 mm). [2]
Ethnobotanical Studies
Different species of Datura have been and continue to be used by numerous tribes in North and Central America during religious and magical-divinatory initiatory rites. The Aztecs knew and cultivated some species of Datura, which they called tolohua, toloatzin and toloache.
In the Badianus Manuscript (1552), probably the first herbarium written and illustrated in America after the conquest by two Aztec pharmacists educated by Spanish priests, reveals that the Aztecs also used Stramonium, among other herbs. Various species of Datura appear in the Badianus Manuscript, their use is prescribed for numerous ailments.
In 1596 the Chinese botanist Li Shih-Chen report in a manuscript the medical use of Datura species under the name of “man-t’o-lo”: the flowers and the grains were used to treat skin rashes and in a mix with wine and Cannabis, Datura plant served as an anesthetic for small surgical operations.
The Aztecs used D. stramonium as a narcotic against pain in the side, in the treatment of ear infections or abscesses, as a poultice applied after incision in a glandular abscess, against pain in the pubic region, as an ointment to treat fissures on the sole of the foot , as a poultice against ulcers and pustules all over the body.
Rock paintings dated between 3000 and 4000 years ago found along the banks of the Pecos River in Texas, represent plant motifs that have been identified as stylizations of thorny fruits of
Datura. In the 19th century this plant was considered by representatives of official medicine to be antispasmodic and useful against St. Vitus’s dance and tetanus.
In more recent times the Rappahnnock Indians of Virginia crushed the seeds or leaves of Stramonium, mixing them with fat or lard to obtain a poultice against snake bites. They also heated the leaves and applied them against itchy feet or smoked them in case of shortness of breath.
This, which is among the most renowned plants of medieval witchcraft, was called “devil’s herb”, “demonics’ herb”, “witches’ herb”. It was used by shamans and sorcerers, who were partly surgeons, partly scientists and partly religious leaders, for its narcotic and hallucinogenic properties which caused fantastic visions and for its supposed aphrodisiac power. A common practice consisted in burning the plant and inhaling its vapors.
Stramonium was also called “thieves’plant” and in India it was known as “the tuft of Shiva”, the god of destruction. It is said that the bandits used to put jimsonweed seeds in some liqueurs, making their victims drink this mixture, who found themselves completely helpless and willing to tell secrets that otherwise they would never have revealed.
Thomas Jefferson (President of the USA) witnessed the fact that at the time of Robespierre the French condemned to the guillotine prepared a poison with jimsonweed that caused rapid death, thus avoiding ending up on the gallows. [4]
Phytochemical Composition
In general Datura plants contain significant amounts of carbohydrates, protein, fats, ash (mineral and trace elements), crude fiber and moisture. The major constituents include:
- Alkaloids
- Phenolic compounds
- Tannins
- Flavonoids
- Cardiac glycosides
In addition to these compounds, high amounts of amino acids have been identified in seeds including alanine, tyrosine, glutamate and phenylalanine.
The alkaloids contained in Datura stramonium belong to the class of tropane alkaloids and are the same found in other plants of the Solanaceae family:
- Scopolamine
- Hyoscyamine
- Atropine
- Solanine
Generally, the alkaloid concentration varies with the plant part and different growth stages in the plant. For example, leaves develop maximum alkaloid concentration in the vegetative phase, decreasing rapidly in the generative phase. [4] While young plant stems accumulate hyoscyamine as a significant component, the levels of scopolamine and atropine vary within different plant parts from young to adult plants. From the analysis of the ethanolic extract of Datura leaves and seeds it came out that the highest concentration of alkaloids is present in seeds.
Extraction Methods
Datura extract usually refers to the aggregate of substances obtained through extraction by water or organic matter. Direct extraction with fresh tissues at room temperature and dry powder immersion with boiling or normal water are the most common methods of water extraction. Organic solvents include methanol, ethanol, methyl sulfoxide, petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, acetone, etc. It should be remembered that different solvents and different combinations of them lead to different final extract phytochemical composition. Depending on the intended purpose it is possible to tune the extraction solvent and parameters in order to maximize the isolation of the desired compounds. [5]
New extraction technologies can improve the yields of tropane alkaloids in the final products as well as innovative growing methods using biotic and abiotic elicitors. To make an example biotic (Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) and abiotic (AgNO3 and nanosilver) elicitors can be added to the hairy root cultures of Datura spp. in order to increase the yield of atropine. So far the highest concentration of tropane alkaloids were reached using nanosilver. [6]
Pharmacological activity of Datura
The alkaloids found in Datura stramonium are potential anticholinergic agents and are known for their antifungal activity against Fusarium mangiferae and Fusarium oxysporum.
Atropine and scopolamine are muscarinic antagonists that may be utilized to cure Parkinson’s disease and parasympathetic stimulation of the eye, respiratory, urinary, heart, and gastrointestinal tract. [7]
The phytochemical compounds present in Datura spp. are well-known for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties due to their ability to suppress the production of chemical mediators responsible for the stimulation of nociceptors and induction of pain or inflammation. [2]
Datura has long been utilized as a beneficial therapy for asthma symptoms.
The compound responsible for this effect is the alkaloid atropine and it is capable of reducing the spasms responsible for the asthma attacks.
Among the beneficial effects of Datura spp. there are:
- Anti-inflammatory
- Analgesic
- Antioxidative
- Antimicrobial
- Anti-asthmatic and bronchodilating
- Anticancer potential
- Activity against insects
- Wound-healing
- Cellular protective
Toxicology of Datura
Beside the number of beneficial health effects, the presence of anticholinergic tropane alkaloids makes Datura species toxic for the nervous system. The symptoms include hallucinations, fever, dry skin, dry mouth, weak and rapid pulse, acute confusion and delirium, convulsions, coma, tachycardia and death. [2] The seed extracts of Datura species at a concentration greater than 0.5% induced adverse physiological modifications and lead to severe anticholinergic effects due to the suppression of central and peripheral cholinergic neurotransmission. It is recommended not to use Datura stramonium in case of glaucoma, pyloric stenosis, paralytic ileus, tachycardia arrhythmias, enlarged prostate, and acute pulmonary edema. Datura stramonium toxic effects generally conceal its medicinal effects. Therefore, the pharmacological properties of Datura should be utilized with thorough knowledge of the possible toxicological outcomes to avoid its side effects.[2]
References:
[1] P. Soni, A.A. Siddiqui, J. Dwivedi, V. Soni, Pharmacological properties of Datura stramonium L. as a potential medicinal tree: An overview, Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed. 2 (2012) 1002–1008. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2221-1691(13)60014-3.
[2] M. Sharma, I. Dhaliwal, K. Rana, A.K. Delta, P. Kaushik, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicology of Datura Species—A Review, Antioxidants 10 (2021) 1291. https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox10081291.
[3] M. Ibrahim, S. Siddique, K. Rehman, M. Husnain, A. Hussain, M.S.H. Akash, F. Azam, Comprehensive Analysis of Phytochemical Constituents and Ethnopharmacological Investigation of Genus Datura, Crit. Rev. Eukaryot. Gene Expr. 28 (2018) 223–283. https://doi.org/10.1615/CritRevEukaryotGeneExpr.2018022531.
[4] S. Alinejad, V. Sarabi, A.R.S. Bakhtvari, H. Hashempour, Variation in physiological traits, yield and secondary metabolites of jimsonweed (Datura stramonium L.) under different irrigation regimes and nutrition systems, Ind. Crops Prod. 143 (2020) 111916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2019.111916.
[5] Z. Shi, W. Zou, Z. Zhu, Z. Xiong, S. Li, P. Dong, Z. Zhu, Tropane alkaloids (hyoscyamine, scopolamine and atropine) from genus Datura: extractions, contents, syntheses and effects, Ind. Crops Prod. 186 (2022) 115283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2022.115283.
[6] Z. Shakeran, M. Keyhanfar, G. Asghari, M. Ghanadian, Improvement of atropine production by different biotic and abiotic elicitors in hairy root cultures of Datura metel, Turk. J. Biol. 39 (2015) 111–118. https://doi.org/10.3906/biy-1405-25.
[7] M. Butnariu, An analysis of Sorghum halepense’s behavior in presence of tropane alkaloids from Datura stramonium extracts, Chem. Cent. J. 6 (2012) 75. https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-153X-6-75.
