Seventy-five percent of raw opium consists of ingredients that have no significant biological effects, such as water, sugars, and fatty acids. The remaining 25 percent contains numerous biologically active ingredients that interact with opioid receptors. These agents are termed the opiod alkaloids.
Alkaloids are complex organic molecules, many of which have been used in traditional medicine or as poisons.
Atropine from the deadly nightshade plant dilates the pupil of the eye, and curare is a skeletal muscle relaxant employed in anesthesia, but both agents have also been used as poisons.
Opium contains at least 20 alkaloids and by some claims as many as 50. However, five principal alkaloids are of major interest: these are morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine.
Morphine is the most abundant of the opium alkaloids. It constitutes as much as 15 percent of the plant extract.
Morphine has been used as a medicine and narcotic for thousands of years. Therapeutically, morphine has three principal uses: as an analgesic for the relief of acute and chronic pain, as a respiratory depressant, and as an antidiarrheal agent. The analgesic properties are morphine’s most important clinical use.
Codeine is a close chemical relative of morphine, differing in only one chemical group. Once administered, codeine is actually metabolized by enzymatic action, and its actions mimic those of morphine. Codeine is used primarily as a cough suppressant, although it certainly also possesses significant analgesic properties (approximately one tenth those of morphine) as in the relief of pain from toothache.
Noscapaine has only minimal therapeutic and narcotic properties. It can be used as a cough suppressant, but has no apparent advantage over other agents.
Papaverine also has minimal narcotic properties.However, it does have vasodilator (blood vessel relaxant) properties, and because of this property it has been employed for both cognition enhancement and erectile dysfunction.
Thebaine has, despite its chemical similarity to morphine, no narcotic or therapeutic uses. It does, however, cause convulsions at high doses. It is also a useful chemical intermediate in the laboratory for production of other opioid compounds.
Alkaloids are complex organic molecules, many of which have been used in traditional medicine or as poisons.
Atropine from the deadly nightshade plant dilates the pupil of the eye, and curare is a skeletal muscle relaxant employed in anesthesia, but both agents have also been used as poisons.
Opium contains at least 20 alkaloids and by some claims as many as 50. However, five principal alkaloids are of major interest: these are morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine.
Morphine is the most abundant of the opium alkaloids. It constitutes as much as 15 percent of the plant extract.
Morphine has been used as a medicine and narcotic for thousands of years. Therapeutically, morphine has three principal uses: as an analgesic for the relief of acute and chronic pain, as a respiratory depressant, and as an antidiarrheal agent. The analgesic properties are morphine’s most important clinical use.
Codeine is a close chemical relative of morphine, differing in only one chemical group. Once administered, codeine is actually metabolized by enzymatic action, and its actions mimic those of morphine. Codeine is used primarily as a cough suppressant, although it certainly also possesses significant analgesic properties (approximately one tenth those of morphine) as in the relief of pain from toothache.
Noscapaine has only minimal therapeutic and narcotic properties. It can be used as a cough suppressant, but has no apparent advantage over other agents.
Papaverine also has minimal narcotic properties.However, it does have vasodilator (blood vessel relaxant) properties, and because of this property it has been employed for both cognition enhancement and erectile dysfunction.
Thebaine has, despite its chemical similarity to morphine, no narcotic or therapeutic uses. It does, however, cause convulsions at high doses. It is also a useful chemical intermediate in the laboratory for production of other opioid compounds.
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