The Calabar Bean and its Alkaloids von Brian Robinson | From Magic, via Miracle, to Memory | ISBN 9789402411904

The Calabar Bean and its Alkaloids

From Magic, via Miracle, to Memory

von Brian Robinson
Buchcover The Calabar Bean and its Alkaloids | Brian Robinson | EAN 9789402411904 | ISBN 94-024-1190-9 | ISBN 978-94-024-1190-4

The Calabar Bean and its Alkaloids

From Magic, via Miracle, to Memory

von Brian Robinson

Investigations into Calabar beans (the dried ripe seeds of Physostigma venenosum) and their alkaloidal components compose a classical scientific journey throughout some one-and-a-half centuries and not only represent a fascinating aspect of the history of medicine but which is, moreover, still ongoing at the forefront of chemical and medical discovery. Those in particular involving its major such component, l-physostigmine, have led to an understanding of some of the fundamental mechanisms occurring in physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry and, either actually or potentially (by providing a template and thereby acting as a “lead compound”) have provided a useful treatment for a variety of neurological disorders associated with irregularities in cholinergic transmission in which augmentation of cholinergic activity has proved to be beneficial.