[5] The supposed healing properties of greater celandine (Chelidonium majus) were believed in throughout Europe and Asia during the Imperial Roman period (Pliny 1966), and New World aboriginal cultures used BIA-containing plants by using sap or root extracts to treat minor cuts and infections.

[5] Chelidonine has a few forms which are synthesized in a similar way and which are structurally alike, including: (+)-homochelidonine, (+)-chelamine and (−)-norchelidonine are tertiary benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids with partially hydrogenated B and C rings.

Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs) are a structurally diverse group of plant specialized metabolites with a long history of investigation.

A small number of plant species, including opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) and other members of the Ranunculales, have emerged as model systems to study BIA metabolism.

Reversible inhibitors, competitive or noncompetitive, mostly have therapeutic applications, while toxic effects are associated with irreversible AChE activity modulators.

Reversible AChE inhibitors play an important role in pharmacological manipulation of the enzyme activity.

These inhibitors include compounds with different functional groups (carbamate, quaternary or tertiary ammonium group), and have been applied in the diagnostic and/or treatment of various diseases such as: myasthenia gravis, AD, post-operative ileus, bladder distention, glaucoma, as well as antidote to anticholinergic overdose.

In these organisms, sublethal doses of chelidonine caused ptosis tremor, sedation, and a decrease in body temperature.