Catharanthus

VINCA MINOR L.

Catharanthus
VINCA MINOR L.

Vincapervinca, to Brussels. Kleines Immergrün, ingl. Periwinkle.

Sheet.

The flowers of this plant are herbaceous stems crawling pentámeras: gamopétala Corolla, in a tube at the base, with 5 lobes extended truncated, blue violet. Stamens and epi alternipétalos, disk hipógino with fleshy nectários alternating with 2 carpels different but with a unique style.

Source.

The creeping kind, with long runners, tapestries form dense undergrowth in the fresh, gutters and rock Umbria. Common throughout Europe, does not grow in the Mediterranean region or in the Arctic areas. It is cultivated in Central Europe.

Chemical composition.

Although some compounds have been irrelevant (dare, triterpenes, acids, phenols, flavonoids, acid Logan, etc. indole alkaloids (0. 5 to 1%) are the components that have resulted in a largest number of published papers.

• vincamine. This pentacyclic alkaloid, which represents approximately 10% of the total alkaloids - appears together with other compounds that, like him, are related to the skeleton of eburnano: vincina, eburnamonina, oxovincamina. The other alkaloids are aspidospermanos dihydroindol: methylene - indolenina as vincadiformina, the minovina, the minovincina, or 2. 16 - dihydro such as the N - methyl aspidospermidina. Asimimo, provides stemming the drug dry - 7, 21: quebracamina, vincadina, vincaminoreína, etc. and derivatives - related corinano, for example, norvincorina. A discovery has revealed the presence of a "dimer".

The vincamine used in therapy may come from the leaves of Vinca minor. It is also a product of total synthesis and hemisíntesis: through a so - called biomimetic synthesis, the Tabersonine, with skeleton áspidospermano alkaloid that is extracted from the seeds of African Voacanga Stapf. Can be processed industrially in vincamine.

Pharmacological data.

The tradition attributed to the drug many virtues: emenagoga, Anti - "antidermatósica", "antilechosa ". but which has aroused more interest is the property of their sympatholytic alkaloids. Although it also has studied its activity on the myocardium, the heart and tension, there is no doubt that the activity is the most studied alkaloids exerted on the cerebral circulation. The vincamine increases your brain in dog and cat, reduces the local ischemia caused by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery in the cat. It is possible that this increase is due to a metabolic activity also highlighted by the animal: increased consumption of oxygen and glucose for the brain dog previously altered by hyperventilation, increased survival time of mice kept in low - oxygen atmosphere. The increase in aerobic glucolisis increases production of ATP (astrocitario swelling decreases and the connection of the neuron is reset) and causes a rise in the partial pressure of CO2: this increase would be the stimulus to trigger vasodilation. The eburnamonina (synthesized) is oxygenated and antihipóxica, is a "brain - stimulating metabolic" [375, 376]

Observations on the Man.

Whatever the criticisms of the methodology of some tests, there is now unanimous in recognizing the reality of drugs active on the cerebral circulation. Some studies show an increase in cerebral blood flow after administration iv of vincamine. Other confirmed an improvement of neurological symptoms through the administration over a long period of time, vincamine per os. To illustrate the circulatory and metabolic effects of the drug may be used 133Xe and make the relevant biochemical measures, including the extent of the evolutionary relationship lactate / pyruvate (witness the aerobic metabolism of glucose) The administration by injection can cause heart disease, specifically, ventricular arrhythmias.

Employment.

Although in some countries, folk medicine still uses the road as fresh or in a simple preparation Galenica, the drug is used primarily by the pharmaceutical industry for the extraction of vincamine. It is proposed (60 mg / day, per os) in the treatment of cerebral circulatory failure accompanied by a decline in the vigil, disorders of memory, irritability and mood instability. Asimimo, can be used in neurology (sequelae of closed head injuries and postoperative states) in ORL (cochlea - disorder vestibular) The vincamine is a bit toxic alkaloid, its LD50 in the rat is 500 mg / kg orally, 76 mg / kg ip route and 24 mg / kg i. v. The chronic toxicity tests reveal no pathological signs. Other sources refer to a much higher LD50 (4g / kg, per os)

The drug.

The drug consists of officinal elliptical leaves, lanceolate, coriaceous. Could measure up to 5 cm long. The blade is green with gray edges and a whole rib pinnada. In a cut, the nerve is prominent, and in the upper face, presents trichomes TECTOR unicellular also can be seen in the dust. It can also be found on fragments of skin cells with lower walls and winding paracíticos stomata. The French Pharmacopoeia advises a study chromatographic (thin layer chromatography) of the total alkaloids and the identification of the vincamine using an internal witness, but does not provide for the valuation of the total alkaloids.

Bibliography.

A. BIANCO, M. Guise and P. PASSACANTILI.

Orange and phenylpropanoid glycosides from new sources.

J. Nat. Prod. 47, 901 - 902, 1984.

W. DÖPKE.

The eburnamine - vincamine alkaloids. In: The Alkaloids, chemistry and physiology, RGA RODRIGO, ed. New York, Academic Press, 20, p. 297 - 332, 1981.

M. V. KISAKÜREK, A. J. M. LEEUWENBERG and M. HESSE.

A chemotaxonomic investigation of the plant families of Apocynaceae, Loganiaceae, and Rubiaceae by their nature alkalos content. In: Alkaloids, chemical and biological perspectives, SW PELLETIER, ed. New M. V. KISAKÜREK, A. J. M. And LEEUWENBERG.

B. PROKSA, D. UHRIN, E. GROSSMANN and Z. VOTICKY.

1 norvincorine, a new alkalos from Vinca minor L. Planta Med. 53, 120 - 1987.

B. PROKSA, D. UHRIN, E. GROSSMANN and Z. VOTICKI Vincarubine,

a novel bisindole alkalos from Vinca minor L.

Tetrahedron letters, 27, 5413 - 5416, 1986.

J. BRUNETON.

Elements of phytochimie and pharmacognosie, Tec. and Doc. Lavoisier, Paris, 1987.

L. SZPORNY.

Pharmacologie of vincamine and its Dérivés.

Actualités pharmacologiques, 29th grade, 87 - 117. 1977.

F. C. CZYGAN.

Jahre 2000 Vinca minor - Kleines Immergrün. Vom Apotropaikum zum aktuellen Arzneistoffprodukten.

Dtsch. Apoth. Ztg. 127, 2376 - 2380, 1987.

L. VERECZKEY.

Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of vincamine and related compounds.

Eur. J. Drug Met. Pharmacokin. 10, 89 - 103, 1985.

J. Totta and A. J. VLIETINCK.

Produits et Phytothérapeutique system cardiovasculaire.

J. Pharm. Belg. 41, 330 - 361, 1983.

P. LINE, P. LACROIX, J. B. LE Chicken & A. BERTHA.

The 1 - éburnamonine, new and original molecule.

Médecine praticienne, 03) 60 - 63, 1980.

On the experimental and clinical pharmacology of (eburnamonina, see, among others, a series of articles published in: Eur. Neurol. 17, sup. 1, 1 - 172, 1978.

A. SPAGNOLI and G. Tognoni.

Cerebroactive drugs. Clinical pharmacology and therapeutic role in cerebrovascular disorders.

Drugs, 26, 44 - 69, 1983.

P. COOK and I. JAMES.

Cerebral vasodilatators, II.

New Engl. J. Med. 305, 1560 - 1564, 1981.

Diseases whose treatment is appropriate in this plant.

Cerebral circulatory failure.

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