 It is related in structure and has similar effects to aconitine, acting as an allosteric modulator of voltage gated sodium channels, and producing low blood pressure, slowed heart rate and abnormal heart rhythms.These effects make it highly poisonous ( 1.5–3.0 mg/kg in rabbit and dog; frogs are ~10x more susceptible), but in very small doses it has some uses in herbal medicine.One of the earliest reports of the isolation of delphinine, from "D. staphisagria", was that of the French chemists Lassaigne and Feneulle, in 1819.