title: Digitonin
text: # Digitonin
  
  Digitonin is a steroidal saponin (saraponin) obtained from the foxglove plant Digitalis purpurea. Its aglycone is digitogenin, a spirostan steroid. It has been investigated as a detergent, as it effectively water-solubilizes lipids. As such, it has several potential membrane-related applications in biochemistry, including solubilizing membrane proteins, precipitating cholesterol, and permeabilizing cell membranes.
  
  Digitonin is sometimes confused with the cardiac drugs digoxin and digitoxin; all three can be extracted from the same source.
  
  ## Chemical properties
  
  * Critical micelle concentration = < 0.5 mM
  * Average micellar weight = 70000
  * Aggregation number = 60
  