Nevertheless, the drug is known to produce loss of memory following exposure and sleepiness, similar to the effect of benzodiazepines or alcohol poisoning. Research
Scopolamine is used as a research tool to study memory encoding. Initially, in human trials, relatively low doses of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine were found to induce temporary cognitive defects. Since then, scopolamine has become a standard drug for experimentally inducing cognitive defects in animals. Results in primates suggest that acetylcholine is involved in the encoding of new information into long-term memory.Scopolamine produces detrimental effects on short-term memory, memory acquisition, learning, visual recognition memory, visuospatial praxis, visuospatial memory, visuoperceptual function, verbal recall, and psychomotor speed. It does not seem to impair recognition and memory retrieval, though. Acetylcholine projections in hippocampal neurons, which are vital in mediating long-term potentiation, are inhibited by scopolamine. Scopolamine also inhibits cholinergic-mediated glutamate release in hippocampal neurons, which assist in depolarization, potentiation of action potential, and synaptic suppression. Scopolamines effects on acetylcholine and glutamate release in the hippocampus favor retrieval-dominant cognitive functioning. Scopolamine has been used to model the defects in cholinergic function for models of Alzheimers, dementia, fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome.Scopolamine has also been investigated as a rapid-onset antidepressant, with a number of small studies finding positive results.NASA agreed to develop a nasal administration method. With a precise dosage, the NASA spray formulation has been shown to work faster and more reliably than the oral form to treat motion sickness. References
External links
 Media related to Scopolamine at Wikimedia Commons
"Scopolamine". Drug Information Portal.
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.