Groves M J, Bisset N G
Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois, Chicago 60612.
J Ethnopharmacol. 1991 Dec;35(2):99-103. doi: 10.1016/0378-8741(91)90061-h.
Attention is called to the fact that, long before the systematization of oral digitalis therapy by Withering in the eighteenth century, the drug was applied to the skin by inunction, producing effects that can now be recognized as due to an overdosage of Digitalis glycosides. The history of digitalis is briefly reviewed: the drug appears not to have been known to Greek and Roman physicians, but by the Middle Ages was widely used in folk medicine. Contrary to current wisdom, there is a wealth of historical information suggesting that topically applied Digitalis glycosides are capable of exerting physiological activity. It is perhaps time to re-examine this feature, in view of the present-day general interest in transdermal medications.
需要注意的是，早在18世纪威瑟林对口服洋地黄疗法进行系统化之前，该药物就已通过涂擦用于皮肤，产生的效果如今可被认为是洋地黄苷过量所致。简要回顾一下洋地黄的历史：希腊和罗马医生似乎并不知晓这种药物，但到了中世纪，它在民间医学中被广泛使用。与当前的认知相反，有大量历史信息表明，局部应用洋地黄苷能够发挥生理活性。鉴于当今对透皮药物的普遍关注，或许是时候重新审视这一特性了。
