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Pilocarpine is a drug used to treat dry mouth and glaucoma. It is a parasympathomimetic alkaloid obtained from the leaves of tropical South American shrubs from the genus ''Pilocarpus''. It is a non-selective muscarinic receptor agonist〔Spalding et al. 2002.〕 in the parasympathetic nervous system, which acts therapeutically at the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M3 due to its topical application,〔Pharmacology, (Rang, Dale, Ritter & Moore, ISBN 0-443-07145-4, 5th ed., Churchill Livingstone 2003) p. 144.〕 e.g., in glaucoma and xerostomia. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system. == Medical uses == Pilocarpine stimulates the secretion of large amounts of saliva and sweat. It is used to treat dry mouth (xerostomia), particularly in Sjögren's syndrome, but also as a side effect of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer. It has also been used in the treatment of chronic open-angle glaucoma and acute angle-closure glaucoma for over 100 years. It acts on a subtype of muscarinic receptor (M3) found on the iris sphincter muscle, causing the muscle to contract -resulting in pupil constriction (miosis). Pilocarpine also acts on the ciliary muscle and causes it to contract. When the ciliary muscle contracts, it opens the trabecular meshwork through increased tension on the scleral spur. This action facilitates the rate that aqueous humor leaves the eye to decrease intraocular pressure. In ophthalmology, pilocarpine is also used to reduce the possibility of glare at night from lights when the patient has undergone implantation of phakic intraocular lenses; the use of pilocarpine would reduce the size of the pupils, relieving these symptoms. The most common concentration for this use is pilocarpine 1%, the weakest concentration. Pilocarpine is used to stimulate sweat glands in a sweat test to measure the concentration of chloride and sodium that is excreted in sweat. It is used to diagnose cystic fibrosis. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「pilocarpine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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