Scopolamine, also known as hyoscine, or Devils Breath, is a natural or synthetically produced tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic drug that is formally used as a medication for treating motion sickness and postoperative nausea and vomiting. It is also sometimes used before surgery to decrease saliva. When used by injection, effects begin after about 20 minutes and last for up to 8 hours. It may also be used orally and as a transdermal patch.Common side effects include sleepiness, blurred vision, dilated pupils, and dry mouth. It is not recommended in people with angle-closure glaucoma or bowel obstruction. Whether its use during pregnancy is safe remains unclear, and use during breastfeeding is still cautioned by health professionals and manufacturers of the drug. Scopolamine is in the antimuscarinic family of drugs and works by blocking some of the effects of acetylcholine within the nervous system.Scopolamine was first written about in 1881 and started to be used for anesthesia around 1900. Around this time it was first proposed for and then subsequently used for years to induce amnesia and synergistic pain relief during childbirth by administering a combination of both scopolamine and morphine. These alkaloids when used in combination gave rise to a synergistic state called "twilight sleep". Scopolamine is also the main active component produced by certain plants of the nightshade family, which historically have been used as psychoactive drugs (known as deliriants) due to their antimuscarinic-induced hallucinogenic effects.
These deficits were less severe than those seen in similar aged children with a diagnosis of MS.Another study compared nineteen children with a history of ADEM, of which 10 were five years of age or younger at the time (average age 3.8 years old, tested an average of 3.9 years later) and nine were older (mean age 7.7y at time of ADEM, tested an average of 2.2 years later) to nineteen matched controls. Scores on IQ tests and educational achievement were lower for the young onset ADEM group (average IQ 90) compared to the late onset (average IQ 100) and control groups (average IQ 106), while the late onset ADEM children scored lower on verbal processing speed. Again, all groups means were within one standard deviation of the controls, meaning that while effects were statistically reliable, the children were as a whole, still within the normal range. There were also more behavioural problems in the early onset group, although there is some suggestion that this may be due, at least in part, to the stress of hospitalization at a young age. Research
The relationship between ADEM and anti-MOG associated encephalomyelitis is currently under research. A new entity called MOGDEM has been proposed.About animal models, the main animal model for MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is also an animal model for ADEM.