Abstract
The above quotation may appear preposterously inappropriate in view of the vast literature on pharmacological effects of alkaloids. However, there is indeed little to relate regarding the biochemistry of these effects. Ultimately, gross effects of alkaloids and other foreign molecules on the behavior of animals must have their explanations in terms of specific molecular interactions and chemical reactions. In the course of its development pharmacology has come from observations of total behavior to observations of gross physiological processes, observations on isolated organs and tissues, and elegant and detailed observations at the cellular level. In very few cases has it started to approach observations at the molecular level. At the present, though, it seems important to suggest some of the problems and difficulties that necessarily attend any such molecular approach and to point to a few areas that seem to show some glimmers of success. Essential aspects of pharmacology are doubtless overlooked in this chapter, and it should probably be regarded as a smattering of things that have been of interest to one biochemist rather than a balanced review. Where references to literature are not given, the reader is referred to the general sources [1–7].
I’ll tell thee everything I can:
There’s little to relate
The White Knight’s Song, Lewis Carroll
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Robinson, T. (1968). Biochemical Pharmacology of Alkaloids. In: The Biochemistry of Alkaloids. Molecular Biology Biochemistry and Biophysics / Molekularbiologie Biochemie und Biophysik, vol 3. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-01015-0_15
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