Larkspur reticulum (veterinary practice)

text-align: center; “> The larkspur of the net is fruitful – delphinium dityocarpum dc.

 

Botanical characteristic. Buttercup family. Perennial herbaceous plant. The stem is straight, ribbed, up to 100 cm high. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, rounded heart-shaped or rounded kidney-shaped, 5-10 cm long and 6-13 cm wide. Flowers on thin pedicels are blue or dark blue. Blooms in June -August (Fig. 21).

Spreading. It grows in the European part of the USSR (except for the Far North and southern regions), in the south of Western Siberia and in Eastern Kazakhstan, in the southern Urals, in Bashkiria. Separate deposits were noted near Saratov, southeast of the city of Kuibyshev, near Ulyanovsk. In Eastern Kazakhstan, it occurs mainly in the mountains at an altitude of 1500-3000 m above sea level in the forest and mountain-steppe belts, and in Western Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan – on flat wet solonetsous meadow steppes, along the edges of birch groves and in willow thickets .

Medicinal raw materials. The aerial part (grass) is used during the period of budding and flowering of the plant. To do this, the upper leafy part of the stem is cut with a sickle, secateurs or beveled obliquely and laid out in the same area for drying, after removing coarse thick stems that contain few active substances. Dry under a canopy or in dryers, spreading out in a thin layer. ,

It is impossible to overdry the raw material, since its most valuable part (leaves) crumbles. The plant is poisonous.

Caution must be exercised in its preparation and transportation.

Chemical composition. The dry raw materials of the plant contain alkaloids delsemin, mellictin, elatin and condelfin, organic acids, mineral salts and other substances. Similar alkaloids have been found in other species of the larkspur genus. The tangled larkspur, found in Kyrgyzstan and the southeastern part of Kazakhstan (within the Tien Shan), is of the greatest practical importance. Grows in alpine and subalpine meadows, meadows of the forest belt. The harvesting and drying technique is the same.

pharmacological properties.Larkspur alkaloids have curare-like properties of a competitive type of action. In practice, mellictin is used, which is easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and has a moderate muscle relaxant and ganglioblocking effect. It blocks the H-cholinergic receptors of the postsynaptic membrane of the striated muscles and thereby inhibits the transmission of excitation from the motor nerves to the muscles. According to the mechanism of action on neuromuscular conduction, it is close to d-tubocurarine. On laboratory animals (rabbits, cats, dogs) it has been shown that larkspur alkaloids cause a progressive decrease in skeletal muscle tone and inhibition of motor activity, and in large doses – complete immobilization. Complete immobilization in carnivores occurs in a sequence determined in the sequence: first, the muscles of the hind limbs relax, then the anterior and trunk, and in the last turn – the auxiliary respiratory muscles of the neck and diaphragm. Recovery of muscle function is reversed.

Melliktin has a weak hypotensive effect, obviously central. In laboratory animals, blood pressure decreases by 10-15 mm Hg for 15-20 minutes. Art. with a subsequent increase to the original level. Mellictin antagonists are prozerin, galantamine and other anticholinesterase substances.

Application. Assign inside with pathological disorders of skeletal muscle tone, disorders of motor function resulting from injuries or diseases of the central nervous system. The drug is produced in tablets of 0.02 g (20 mg).