Pharmacological activities and toxicities of alkaloids on human health

Alkaloids are a huge class of natural occurring organic molecules, which contain nitrogen atom or atoms (amino or amido in some cases) in their structures. Alkaloids are extremely divergent chemical structures including heterocyclic ring systems and encompass more than 20,000 different molecules in organisms. They are present not only in human daily life, in food and drinks but also as stimulant drugs, medicines, narcotics, insecticides and in many physiological activities. They showed strong biological effects on animal and human organisms even in very small doses. Alkaloids show several pharmacological activities on human healthsuch as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, Anti-malarial, Anti-microbial, Anti-hypertensive, Anti-diabetic, Anti-oxidant. Alkaloids directly act on the central nervous system in the human body and also affect nucleic acid, DNA (Deoxy Ribonucleic acid), RNA (Ribonucleic acid), membrane permeability and proteins. In this review article we aimed to investigate the pharmacological activities of different alkaloids, their importance in medicinal science and their toxicity on human health.