Botanical characteristic. Poppy family. An annual, biennial or perennial greyish-green herbaceous plant. The roots are long, rod. Stems are straight, rounded, glabrous. Stem leaves are numerous alternate gray-gray, the middle ones are larger, the upper stems are short oval. Flowers solitary, large yellow, dark yellow, lemon yellow, rarely golden yellow. Mass flowering begins in the second year of life from May to August.
Spreading. Under natural conditions, it is found only on the Black Sea coast. It grows on well-drained soils – on sandy sea coasts, pebbles, less often on rubble slopes, sometimes on fallows, along river valleys. Introduced into culture in the Krasnodar Territory.
Medicinal raw materials. The best harvesting period is the flowering period. The aerial part (grass) of the plant is harvested, which is cut with a pruner or sickle, and mowed on plantations. In the air, the grass dries out in 5-7 days. Dry at a temperature of 50-55 °C.
Chemical composition. In the aerial part of the plant there are more than 15 alkaloids, derivatives of isoquinoline – glaucine, isoboldine, isocoridine, songvinarine, etc. In the flowering phase, the grass contains up to 3.3-3.9% of the total alkaloids, of which glaucine accounts for 1.79-1.97 %.
pharmacological properties. Of all the alkaloids, glaucine is of the greatest importance, the salt of which – glaucine hydrochloride – has a pronounced antitussive effect. In experiments on cats, the product at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg inhibits the cough reflex that occurs when the upper laryngeal nerve is irritated. A more pronounced and longer action begins at a dose of 1 mg/kg of body weight, and at a dose of 2-3 mg/kg, a complete shutdown of the cough reflex for several hours is noted. Unlike codeine, it does not depress breathing, does not cause addiction and addiction.
Glaucine has an adrenolytic effect: it reduces the pressor reaction and reduces uterine contractility in response to intravenous adrenaline, reduces the effect of adrenaline on the vascular tone of isolated organs. At the same time, it does not have a significant effect on M- and N-cholinergic structures. At a dose of 1 – 5 mg / kg in laboratory animals, it lowers blood pressure by 10 – 50% compared to the initial level, and at a dose of 3 – 10 mg / kg it reduces tone and reduces peristalsis of the small intestine, relaxes the muscles of the uterus. The drug has low toxicity.
Application. It is recommended as an antitussive agent for diseases of the lungs and respiratory tract. Glaucine hydrochloride is produced in yellow coated tablets of 0.05 g each. The approximate dose for dogs is 0.01-0.02 g 2-3 times every day after feeding.