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Interested in all that is NightShade??  You have come to the right place.

    Nightshade or Solanaceae, is a family of flowering plants that are actually very toxic, though some do have edible parts.  You may have seen some of the edible parts in you daily living, such as the tomato and the potato.  The Solanaceae are known for possessing a diverse range of alkaloidal glucosides, or simply alkaloids. As far as humans are concerned, these alkaloids can be desirable, toxic, or both, though they presumably evolved because they reduced the tendency of animals to eat the plants.
 

    One of the most important groups of these compounds is called the tropane alkaloids. The term "tropane" comes from a genus in which they are found, Atropa (the belladonna genus). The belladonna genus is so named after the Greek Fate, Atropos, who cut the thread of life. This nomenclature betrays the toxicity and lethality that has long been known to be characteristic of these compounds. Tropane alkaloids are also found in the Datura, Mandragora, and Brugmansia genera, as well as many others in the Solanaceae family. Chemically, the molecules of these compounds have a characteristic bicyclic structure and include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Pharmacologically, they are the most powerful known anticholinergics in existence, meaning they inhibit the neurological signals transmitted by the endogenous neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Symptoms of overdose may include mouth dryness, dilated pupils, ataxia, urinary retention, hallucinations, convulsions, coma, and death. Despite the extreme toxicity of the tropanes, they are important drugs when administered in appropriate (and extremely small) dosages. They can reverse cholinergic poisoning, which can be caused by overexposure to pesticides and chemical warfare agents such as sarin and VX. More commonly, they can halt many types of allergic reactions.
 

    The most famous alkaloid from the Solanaceae family is nicotine. Like the tropanes, its pharmacology acts on cholinergic neurons, but with the opposite effect (it is an agonist as opposed to an antagonist). It has a higher specificity for nicotinic acetylcholine receptors than other ACh proteins. Its effects are well known. Nicotine occurs naturally in the Nicotiana or Tobacco genus. Nicotiana tabacum, the tobacco plant is well known for causing cancer.

Capsaicin is structurally unrelated to nicotine or the tropanes, and is found in the genus Capsicum, which includes chile peppers such as Tabasco peppers and habaneros. The compound is not appreciably toxic to animals. However, it stimulates specific pain receptors in most mammals, those which sense heat, in the oral mucosa as well as many other epithelial tissues. This causes a sensation of burning not unlike an actual heat or chemical burn. It is used in high concentration as a deterrent in pepper sprays, and sought after for many culinary dishes for its "spiciness". It is thought that the reason one would deliberately induce pain while eating is the rewarding release of endorphins it has been shown to induce. The "hotness" of capsaicin products and foods is expressed in Scoville units. A scoville unit is the factor by which the capsaicin-containing substance must be diluted to render the resulting solution imperceptible to a tester (for example, a teaspoon of a 5,000 Scoville unit hot sauce would have to be diluted with 4,999 teaspoons of a sugar water solution to negate its potential to cause a sensation on the palate).