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JABORANDI

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 105 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JABORANDI , a nam° given in a generic manner in See also:

Brazil and See also:South See also:America generally to a number of different See also:plants, all of which possess more or less marked sialogogue and sudorific properties. In the See also:year 1875 a See also:drug was introduced under the above name to the See also:notice of medical men in See also:France by Dr Coutinho of See also:Pernambuco, its botanical source being then unknown. Pilocarpus pennatifolius, a member of the natural See also:order Rutaceae, the plant from which it is obtained, is a slightly branched See also:shrub about 10 ft. high, growing in See also:Paraguay and the eastern provinces of Brazil. The leaves, which are placed alternately on the See also:stem, are often 1-1 ft. See also:long, and ccnsist of from two to five pairs of opposite leaflets, the terminal one having a longer pedicel than the others. The leaflets-are See also:oval, lanceolate, entire and obtuse, with the See also:apex often slightly indented, from 3 to 4 in. long and 1 to r? in. broad in the See also:middle. When held up to the See also:light they may be observed to have scattered all over them numerous pellucid dots or receptacles of secretion immersed in the substance of the See also:leaf. The leaves in See also:size and texture See also:bear some resemblance to those of the See also:cherry-See also:laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), but are less polished on the upper See also:surface. The See also:flowers, which are produced in See also:spring and See also:early summer, are See also:borne on a raceme, 6 or 8 in. long, and the See also:fruit consists of five carpels, of which not more than two or three usually arrive at maturity. The leaves are the See also:part of the plant usually imported, although occasionally the stems and roots are attached to them. The active principle for which the name See also:pilocarpine, suggested by See also:Holmes, was ultimately adopted, was discovered almost simultaneously by See also:Hardy in France and Gerrard in See also:England, but was first obtained in a pure See also:state by See also:Petit of See also:Paris. It is a liquid See also:alkaloid, slightly soluble in See also:water, and very soluble in See also:alcohol, See also:ether and See also:chloroform. It strongly rotates the See also:plane of polarization to the right, and forms crystalline salts of which the nitrate is that chiefly used in. See also:medicine.

The nitrate and phosphate are insoluble in ether, chloroform and benzol, while the hydro-chlorate and hydrobromate dissolve both in these menstrua and in water and alcohol; the sulphate and acetate being deliquescent are not employed medicinally. The See also:

formula of the alkaloid is C11 H16N202. Certain other alkaloids are See also:present in the leaves. They have been named jaborine, jaboridine and pilocarpidine. The first of these is the most important and See also:constant. It is possibly derived from pilocarpine, and has the formula C22H32N404. Jaborine resembles atropine pharmacologically, and is there-fore antagonistic to pilocarpine. The various preparations of Jaborandi—a, leaf (reduced) ; b, leaflet (natural size) ; c, See also:flower; d, fruit (natural size). jaborandi leaves are therefore undesirable for therapeutic pur- poses, and only the nitrate of pilocarpine itself should be used. This is a See also:white crystalline See also:powder, soluble in the ratio of about ore part in ten of See also:cold water. The dose is -y-2 See also:grain by the mouth, and up to one-third of a grain hypodermically, in which See also:fashion it is usually given. The See also:action of this powerful alkaloid closely resembles that of physostigmine, but whereas the latter is specially active in influencing the See also:heart, the See also:eye and the See also:spinal See also:cord, pilocarpine exerts its greatest See also:power on the secretions.

It has no See also:

external action. When taken by the mouth the drug is rapidly absorbed and stimulates the secretions of the entire alimentary See also:tract, though not of the See also:liver. The action on the salivary glands is the most marked and the best understood. The See also:great flow of saliva is due to an action of the drug, after absorption, on the terminations of the chorda tympani, sympathetic and other nerves of salivary secretion. The gland cells themselves are unaffected. The nerves are so violently excited that See also:direct stimulation of them by See also:electricity adds nothing to the See also:rate of salivary flow. The action is antagonized by atropine, which paralyses the See also:nerve terminals. About 1-0th of a grain of atropine antagonizes See also:half a grain of pilocarpine. The circulation is depressed by the drug, the See also:pulse being slowed and the See also:blood pressure falling. The cardiac action is due to stimulation of the vagus, but the See also:dilatation of the blood-vessels does not appear to be due to a specific action upon them. The drug does not kill by its action on the heart. Its dangerous action is upon the bronchial secretion, which is greatly increased.

Pilocarpine is not only the most powerful sialogogue but also the most powerful diaphoretic known. One dose may cause the flow of nearly a See also:

pint of sweat in an See also:hour. The action is due, as in the See also:case of the salivation, to stimulation of the terminals of the sudorific nerves. According to K. Binz there is also in both cases an action on the medullary centres for these secretions. Just as the saliva is a true secretion containing a high proportion of ptyalin and salts, and is not a See also:mere transudation of water, so the See also:perspiration is found to contain a high ratio of See also:urea and chlorides. The great diaphoresis and the depression of the circulation usually cause a fall in temperature of about 20 F. The drug is excreted unchanged in the urine. It is a mild diuretic. When given internally or applied locally to the eye it powerfully stimulates the terminals of the oculomotor nerves in the See also:iris and ciliary muscle, causing See also:ext eme contraction of the See also:pupil and spasm of See also:accommodation. The tension of the eyeball is at first raised but afterwards lowered. The See also:chief therapeutic use of the drug is as a diaphoretic in chronic See also:Bright's disease.

It is also used to aid the growth of the See also:

hair—in which it is sometimes successful; in cases of inordinate thirst, when one-tenth of a grain with a little See also:bismuth held in the mouth may be of much value; in cases of See also:lead and See also:mercury poisoning, where it See also:aids the elimination of the See also:poison in the secretions; as a galactagogue; and in cases of atropine poisoning (though here it is of doubtful value).

End of Article: JABORANDI

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