Sanguinarine

Sanguinarine is a toxic alkaloid extracted from some plants, including Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), Mexican Prickly Poppy Argemone mexicana, Chelidonium majus and Macleaya cordata.

Sanguinarine kills animal cells through its action on the Na+-K+-ATPase transmembrane protein. Epidemic dropsy is a disease that results from ingesting sanguinarine.

If applied to the skin, sanguinarine kills cells and may destroy tissue. In turn, the bleeding wound may produce a massive scab, called an Eschar. For this reason, sanguinarine is termed an escharotic.

In plants, sanguinarine is synthesized from dihydrosanguinarine through the action of Dihydrobenzophenanthridine oxidase (EC 1.5.3.12).