TOPIC: Nicotiana Tabacum

CREATED BY: Aneeqa Ansari

Case History
 The tobacco plant, Nicotiana, has probably been
responsible for more deaths than any other herb.
At present, tobacco smoking is causing over 3
million deaths a year worldwide, and if current
smoking trends continue the annual mortality will
exceed 10 million by around 2030.
 Add to this the mortality from cancers caused by
oral uses and the death toll becomes still higher.
Undoubtedly, tobacco is the most important
avoidable cause of premature death and disease
in the world.
TO BE CONT…
 Tobacco leaves and the smoke generated when
they are burned contain over 4 thousand
chemicals
 the best known of which is nicotine, first isolated
from tobacco leaves in 1828 by Posselt and
Reimann.
 It is the nicotine that causes smokers to become
addicted to tobacco, and the chemical itself is
lethal in small doses.
 When tobacco smoke is inhaled, the nicotine
passes quickly to every organ of the body. The
brain and nervous system are stimulated by small
doses and depressed by larger ones.
TO BE CONT…..
 Nicotine increases the heart rate and the blood
pressure, and may contribute directly to the
excess of thrombosis and atheroma in smokers.
Nevertheless, nicotine replacement therapy is
used in helping people to stop smoking, because it
spares them the many other harmful contents of
tobacco smoke—for example, the carcinogenic
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and N-nitroso
compounds
Case Report
A 40 year old female presented in oct 1987 with
highly pruriginiou oczematous lesions on exposed
areas. For 3 years she had been working
seasonally recurred every year when she handled
either green or yellowish leaves of the plant.
In 1988 she did no work in the fields and was
completely free of eczema. It recurred in July
1989 on her 2 day back at work in the plantation.
The other 12 workers there free of lesions. She
had no past history of eczema.
To Be Cont…..
She was patch tested over the course of 2 years
with European standard series pesticides, woods
plants and perfume series(hermal), pesticides used
in the plantation and plants found in the region.
Tobacco leaves were tested as is (green and yellow
leaves) and as ether alcohol and acetone extracts
at 1% in white petrolatum. Nicotine at 0.5 1% pet
and tobacco from a cigarette were also tested.
Resulted are shown in tables 1 and 2. 20 controls
were all negative to the tobacco extracts and 5
also failed to react to leaves.
Case Discussion
Allergic contact dermatitis from green tobacco leaf
is rarely reported. Occasionally patients handle
green leaves with impunity but react to cured
leaves. We found positive patch test to both green
and yellowish leaves, and also to cured tobacco
from a cigarette, suggesting that the allergen
remained unchanged during the drying and curing
process and was already present in green leaf. It is
soluble in ether and alcohol as has been reported in
a case of allergic contact dermatitis from the cured
leaf.
To Be Cont…..
As in previous studies nicotine was not the
allergen. Pesticides fertilizers and additives
may also be responsible for the dermatitis(
2,5,7). Our patient had a positive test to
pyrethrum that is difficult to explain she did
not react to pesticides used in the plantation
that did not contain pyethrins and had no
history of intolerance to domestic
insecticides or previous contact with
Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium.
To Be Cont….
As an “angry back” was excluded by repeated
patch testing the positive reactions to several
plant derived substances seen ( balsam of peru,
colophony,prpolis, turpentine and perfume mix)
are explained by the existence of common
allergens among these products.
In absence of previous intolerance to them we
admin that> 1 of these allergens might be
present in tobacco leaves or cross react with a
tobacco constituent. Never the less a simple
concomitant reaction with tobacco cannot be
excluded.
Nicotiana tabacum

It is a type of nicotine found in tobacco

plants, comes from the nightshade family
(Solanaceae). Its Genus name is Nicotiana
Nicotiana tabacum, or
cultivated tobacco, is an annually-
grown herbaceous plant. It is found only
in cultivation,
TO BE CONT…..

where it is the most commonly grown

of all plants in the genus Nicotiana,
and its leaves are commercially grown
in many countries to be processed into
tobacco. It grows to heights between 1
and 2 meters. Research is ongoing into
its ancestry among
wild Nicotiana species
Taxonomy

Family : Solanaceae.
Latin name : Nicotiana tabacum
Synonyms: Tobacco,Tamak.,Siah(Marma)
Common name: Tobacco.
Parts USED:

Almost every part of the plant except

the seed contains nicotine, but the
concentration is related to different
factors such as species, type of land,
culture and weather conditions. The
concentration of nicotine increases with
the age of the plant. Tobacco leaves
contain 2 to 8% nicotine combined
as malate or citrate.
To Be Cont….

The distribution of the nicotine in the

mature plant is widely variable: 64% of
the total nicotine exists in the leaves,
18% in the stem, 13% in the root, and
5% in the flowers.
Poisonous Parts:

 Leaves
 Stems
 Roots
 Flowers
Main Toxin Part:
 Nicotine
Biology & Ecology

Nicotiana tabacum is a perennial

herbaceous plant. It is found only in
cultivation, It grows to heights between
1 to 2 metres. N. tabacum is a native of
tropical and subtropical America but it is
now commercially cultivated worldwide.
Other varieties are cultivated as
ornamental plants or grow as a weed.
To be Cont….
Nicotiana tabacum Linné is a robust
annual little branched herb up to 2.5
m (8.2 ft) high with large green leaves
and long trumpet shaped white-pinkish
flowers. All parts are sticky, covered
with short viscid-glandular hairs,
which exude a yellow secretion
containing nicotine.
USES:
 Allparts of the plant contain nicotine,
which can be extracted and used as an
insecticide.
 The dried leaves can also be used; they
remain effective for 6 months after
drying.
 The juice of the leaves can be rubbed on
the body as an insect repellent.
To Be Cont..

 The leaves can be dried and chewed as

an intoxicant.
 The dried leaves are also used as snuff
or are smoked.
 Instillation of tobacoo enams for
treatment of intestinal worms or
constipation.