Isolation of alkaloids and glycosides from tissue following enzymic digestion.

Four enzymic digestion methods have been evaluated for their efficiency in releasing certain alkaloids and glycosides from spiked liver tissue. Enzymic digestion gives better recoveries of all the plant poisons studied than those obtained by conventional methods. A flow diagram for the enzymic methods of drug isolation and quantitation by HPLC is presented. Enzymic digestion for the release of glycosides is reported for the first time. It is concluded that papain digestion is the most suitable method for the analysis of broad spectrum of compounds of forensic and clinical importance.