Periwinkle Madagascar

Vinca alkaloids are derived from the Madagascar periwinkle plant, Catharanthus roseus. The main alkaloids are vincristine, vinblastine and vindesine. Vinca alkaloids are cell-cycle-specific agents and block cells in mitosis. This cellular activity is due to their ability to bind specifically to tubulin and to block the ability of the protein to polymerize into microtubules. This prevents spindle formation in mitosing cells and causes arrest at metaphase. Vinca alkaloids also inhibit other cellular activities that involve microtubules, such as leukocyte phagocytosis and chemotaxis as well as axonal transport in neurons. Side effects of the vinca alkaloids such as their neurotoxicity may be due to disruption of these functions. 

The discovery of vinblastine and vincristine is one of the most intriguing examples of serendipity in scientihc research in recent years. In 1952, the Canadian medical researcher Robert Laing Noble (1910-90) received a package from his brother. Dr. Clark Noble, containing 25 leaves from the Madagascar periwinkle plant. Vinca rosea. Clark had received the leaves from one of his patients in Jamaica, who said that natives on the island often used the plant to control their diabetes when insulin was not available. Clark, who was retired, suggested that his brother study the plant for possible use as a drug for the treatment of diabetes. 

Catharanthus (yincd) alkaloids [Vinblastine (4), Vincristine (5)] Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don (Madagascar periwinkle) Anticancer... 

Vinblastine (4) and vincristine (5) are closely related indole-dihydroindole dimers (bisindole alkaloids), isolated from Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don (formerly known as Vinca rosea L.), the Madagascar periwinkle. Both of these anticancer agents, known as vinca alkaloids in the medical literature, are specific binders of tubulin, leading to tubulin depolymerization and cell cycle arrest in the metaphase stage. 

Vincamine, vinblastine and vincristine are very important clinic alkaloids. They are produced naturally by plants vincamine by Vinca minor, and vinblascine and vincristine by Madagascar periwinkle Catharanthus roseus). The vindoline synthesis pathway starts with strictosidine and, via dehydrogeissoschizine, preakuammicine, stemmadenine and tabersonine, is converted to vindoline and vincristine (Figure 42). Conversion from vindoline to vinblastine is based on the NADH enzyme activity. Vinblastine and vincristine are very similar alkaloids. The difference is that vincristine has CHO connected to N, whereas vinblastine in the same situation has only CO3. This synthetic structural differences influence their activity. Vinblastine is used to treat Hodgkin s disease (a form of lymphoid cancer), while vincristine is used clinically in the treatment of children s leukaemia. Vincristine is more neurotoxic than vinblastine. 

The Madagascar periwinkle Catharanthus roseus (= Vinca rosea) (Apocynaceae) is a small herb or shrub originating in Madagascar, but now common in the tropics and widely cultivated as an ornamental for its shiny dark green leaves and pleasant five-lobed flowers. Drug material is now cultivated in many parts of the world, including the USA, Europe, India, Australia, and South America. 

MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE -- Catharanthus roseus, formerly Vinca rosea. Family Apocynaceae (Dogbane family). 

LAFLAMME, P., ST-PIERRE, B., DE LUCA, V., Molecular and biochemical analysis of a Madagascar periwinkle root-specific minovincinine-19-hydroxy-O-acetyltransferase. Plant Physiol., 2001,125,189-198. 

OUWERKERK, P.B., TRIMBORN, T.O., HILLIOU, F., MEMELINK, J., Nuclear factors GT-1 and 3AF1 interact with multiple sequences within the promoter of the Tdc gene from Madagascar periwinkle GT-1 is involved in UV light-induced expression. Mol. Gen. Genet., 1999,261,610-622. 

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle), Rauwolfia serpentina (Indian snakeroot), R. tetraphyllo (pinque-pinque, four-leaf devil pepper), R. vomitoria (African snakeroot), Vinca minor (periwinkle) (Apocynaceae)... 

Facchini, P.J. and De Luca, V. (2008) Opium poppy and Madagascar periwinkle model non-model systems to investigate alkaloid biosynthesis in plants. The Plant., 54, 763-84. 

Vincristine and vinblastine Chemotherapeutic drug Catharanthus roseus Madagascar periwinkle... 

Vinblastine sulfate is the nonproprietary name assigned by the United States Adopted Names Council to the compound originally named vinca-leukoblastine sulfate1 s 3. It is the 1 1 sulfate salt of an alkaloid obtained from the plant Vinca rosea Linn. (Catharanthus roseus G. Don) of the family Apocynaceae, better known as Madagascar periwinkle. Frequently the name is abbreviated to VLB sulfate. It is also identified by the code numbers NSC-49812 and 29060-LE4. The elucidation of the molecular structure, stereochemistry, and absolute configuration of this interesting compound is fully documented in the literature5 7 8. 

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