Biology:Stigmine
Stigmine refers to a class of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.
Examples include:
| Drug | Primary use |
|---|---|
| Physostigmine | Anticholinergic poisoning, glaucoma |
| Neostigmine | Reversal of neuromuscular blockade, myasthenia gravis |
| Pyridostigmine | Myasthenia gravis |
| Distigmine | Urinary retention, myasthenia gravis |
| Rivastigmine | Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease dementia |
Pharmacology
Stigmines are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors that increase the concentration of acetylcholine at cholinergic synapses by inhibiting its enzymatic breakdown. As a result, they enhance cholinergic neurotransmission at neuromuscular junctions and other cholinergic sites in the body.[1]
Medical uses
Various stigmine derivatives are used in medicine. Pyridostigmine and neostigmine are commonly used in the treatment of myasthenia gravis, while neostigmine is also used to reverse non-depolarizing neuromuscular blockade after surgery. Rivastigmine is used in the treatment of dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.[2]
History and etymology
The name "stigmine" is derived from physostigmine, a naturally occurring acetylcholinesterase inhibitor isolated from the Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosum). Later synthetic and semisynthetic acetylcholinesterase inhibitors adopted the suffix "-stigmine", leading to names such as neostigmine, pyridostigmine, and distigmine.[3]
References
- ↑ Mehndiratta, Man Mohan; Pandey, Sanjay; Kuntzer, Thierry (2014-10-13). "Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor treatment for myasthenia gravis". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014 (10). doi:10.1002/14651858.CD006986.pub3. ISSN 1469-493X. PMID 25310725. PMC 7390275. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7390275/.
- ↑ Neely, Grant A.; Sabir, Sarah; Kohli, Arpan (2026), "Neostigmine", StatPearls (Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing), PMID 29261883, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470596/, retrieved 2026-06-04
- ↑ Obi, Juliet O.; Ikeme, Anthony C.; Nwakama, Patrick E.; Undieh, Ashiwel S. (2023-02-28). "The Calabar bean and physostigmine: from African ethno-jurisprudence to medicinal discovery and modern pharmacotherapeutics" (in en). American Journal of Pharmacotherapy and Pharmaceutical Sciences 2. doi:10.25259/AJPPS_2023_001. ISSN 2835-253X. https://ajpps.org/the-calabar-bean-and-physostigmine-from-african-ethno-jurisprudence-to-medicinal-discovery-and-modern-pharmacotherapeutics/.
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