Lecture 28: Poisonous Plants

Question 1

Many of the medicinal plants we talked about and all the hallucinogenic ones can be toxic depending on ______

Answer 1

the dose

Question 2

What are the 4 types of arrow adn dart poisons?

Answer 2

Yew:

Aconite (the most toxic plant out there)

Kombe

Curare

Question 3

______ is a competitive antagonist that blocks nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on the postsynaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction

Answer 3

Curare

Question 4

_____ Mostly S. America.

Powerful muscle relaxant that causes death by paralyzing the respiratory system.

Answer 4

Curare

Question 5

_____ mixed with milkweeds (Euphorbia). Africa. Powerful cardiac relaxant.

Answer 5

Kombe

Question 6

_____ Europe, Asia, N America. Respiratory paralysis

Answer 6

Aconite

Question 7

____ Europe & Asia, Heart failure

Answer 7

Yew

Question 8

____ produced the first Western book about poisons, Nicander of Colophon 197-130 BC

Answer 8

Ancient Greeks

Question 9

What family is poison hemlock and water hemlock?

Answer 9

Carrot

Question 10

What is the most toxic plant in NA known as “suicide root”?

Answer 10

water hemlock

Question 11

_____ is native to Europe but introduced to N America (including Canada) where it grows in disturbed places.

Answer 11

Poison hemlock

Question 12

What is the chemical in poison hemlock that causes respiratory paralysis?

Answer 12

coniine

Question 13

___ was sentenced to death through suicide with the poison hemlock

Answer 13

Socrates

Question 14

______ often tested the potency of their mixtures (probably containing multiple toxins) on animals, slaves or convicts.

Answer 14

Professional poisoners

Emperor nero had Locusta has professional poisoner

Question 15

What is the main symptom of aconite?

Answer 15

respiratory paralysis

Question 16

What family of fruits contain a lot of amygdaline/cyanides?

Answer 16

Rosaceae

peach (Prunus persica); apple (Malus domestica); pear tree (Pyrus communis); cherries (Prunus avium);

Question 17

______ stops cellular respiration by inhibiting an enzyme in the mitochondria called cytochrome oxidase.

Answer 17

Cyanide

Question 18

What is the main effect Hellebore?

Answer 18

respiratory paralysis

Question 19

What is the main effect of Belladona and Mandrake?

Answer 19

Death by respiratory and cardiovascular failure.

Question 20

What are the chemicals in Belladona, what are the chemicals in Mandrake?

Answer 20

Atropine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine

alkaloids are anticholinergic

Question 21

True or False: By mid-1600 poisoning had become an art taught in schools

Answer 21

True

Question 22

_____ is known to have over 600 victims are known to have been killed, mostly husbands of unhappy spouses.

Answer 22

Agua Tofana

Question 23

What was the plant used in agua tofana?

Answer 23

Belladona

Question 24

True or False: Agua tofana was sold to women both as a cosmetic and a devotionary object in vials that included a picture of St Nicholas

Answer 24

True

Question 25

What were the 4 strange antidotes to poisons?

Answer 25

Pregustatores”

“Unicorn’s horn”, rhino horn, or various gemstones

Toadstones: calcified stones from the stomach of toads

Religious artifacts & talismans

Question 26

_____ is an annual plant cultivated often as ornamental in Canada and the U.S.A. Plants grow very fast, reaching up to 2 m in just a couple of months.

Answer 26

castor been

Question 27

The ______ designed a pen-sized assassination weapon to deliver ricin pellets. It was used in a umbrella?

Answer 27

KGB

Question 28

______ is the 3rd most toxic substance after plutonium and botulism

Answer 28

Ricin

Question 29

How does ricin work?

Answer 29

Ricin works its harm by destroying ribosomes.

Question 30

Questions: One of the questions about ricin communis is incorrect?

Answer 30

B, ricin is the most toxic compound, an alkaloid

Question 31

Questions: What is the cellular mechanism by cyanide?

Answer 31

Cyanide stops cellular respiration by inhibiting an enzyme in the mitochondria called cytochrome oxidase.