ALKALOID CONTENT OF THE LEAVES OF THREE NBIGERIAN DATURA SPECIES

The Datura species are sources of the tropane alkaloids employed as sedatives, antispasmodic and mydiatic agents. Three species of Datura grow naturally in Nigeria. These are D. innoxia Mill, D. metel L. and D. stramonium L. TLC analysis of the individual alkaloids in the leaves of these species indicated the presence of hyoscyamine and hyoscine. The other alkaloids were tropine, tigloidine and meteloidine. An unknown alkaloid was also detected in D. stramonium. Total alkaloid content was determined in the plants to be 1.75% +SD in D.innoxia, 1.22%+SD in D. metel and 1.29+SD in D. stramonium. The official drug (leaves) should contain 0.2-0.5% of total alkaloid to be considered as a standard drug. The results indicated that these Nigerian Datura species are good quality drugs that could be used as sources of these important alkaloids and D. innoxia should be included with the other two in the African pharmacopoeia. Keywords: Alkaloids, Datura innoxia, Datura metel, Datura stramonium, medicinal plants, hyoscyamine and hyoscine. [Nig. J. Nat. Prod. And Med. Vol.6 2002: 15-18]