Madagascar periwinkle plant

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. 

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. 

Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don Chang Chun Hua (Madagascar periwinkle) (whole plant) Vinblastine, vincristine, carosine, vinrosidine, lenrosine, lenrosivine, rovidine, perivine, perividine, vindolinine, pericalline.33 This herb is toxic. Anticancer in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Hodgkin s disease, in acute lymphocytic leukemia. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

In further confirmation, there are antibiotics prominently listed in Appendices E and E of Hoffman (1999) as inhibitors for enzymes involved in DNA and RNA processes. With regard to cancer treatment, however, a search of Medline indicates that most antibiotics are used against bacterial infections incurred during cancer treatment. An exception involves studies at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas, located in Houston. These studies utilized actinomycin D and doxorubicin, both said to be known anticancer agents, in conjunction with the mitotic inhibitors vinblastine and Taxol. (The latter two are from plant extracts, and inhibit cell division or mitosis. The first-mentioned is derived from the Madagascar periwinkle [as is another alkaloid called vincristine], the latter from the yew tree of the... 

The list of commercial products from natural sources could fill volumes. It must be emphasized that their discoveries range from systematic searches, to tradition to chance favors the prepared mind. The latter is reemphasized in the discovery of the alkaloids from the periwinkle plant (vincristine and vinblastine) which were first screened for their hypoglycemic activity based on reports of their use by local groups in Madagascar. While the hypoglycemic response could not be confirmed under controlled laboratory conditions, an immunosuppressive effect due to... 

According to Samuelsson (1992) over 100 alkaloids have been isolated from Cantharanthus roseus—the rose or Madagascar periwinkle, a popular garden plant—including some with hypo-glycaemic properties. However, the alkaloids occur naturally in very small quantities. Vinblastine and vincristine are antineoplastic, used as chemotherapy treatment in childhood leukaemia and Hodgkin s disease. They are dimeric indole alkaloids. 

The Madagascar periwinkle Catharanthus roseus, Apocynaceae, formerly known as Vmca rosea) is a small subshrub or herbaceous plant native to Madagascar. It contains about 130 monoterpene indole alkaloids of different subclasses (vanderHeijden et ah, 2004). Nowadays, C. roseus occurs worldwide in subtropical and tropical regions. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant, but it has also found application in the folk medicine of various countries. Because the plant was used as an antidiabetic in Jamaica, it was screened for hypoglycaemic activity by Eli-Lilly, USA, and the Cancer Research Center,... 

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