Vinpocetine (A comprehensive profile).

Vinpocetine (VIN) is a herbal supplement extracted from the periwinkle plant. It is a multi-action agent, which is used to treat various neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Vinpocetine has also anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant property and treats various thinking and memory problems. Currently, vinpocetine is also available in the market as a dietary supplement to enhance cognition and memory. This profile explains the physicochemical properties, methods of preparation, content of related impurities and different spectroscopical behavior of vinpocetine. It also discusses the reported methods of analysis of the drug, which include Compendial Methods, Electrochemical Methods, Spectrophotometric Methods and Chromatographic Methods of analysis. Furthermore, this profile explains the stability of the drug subjected to stress conditions of acid, alkaline and photolytic degradation. In addition, the clinical applications of the drug, its uses, side effects, dosing information, pharmacokinetics and mechanism of action are also discussed.

[BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE ALKALOIDS FROM RHIZOMES WITH ROOTS OF VINCA HERBACEA WALDST. ET KIT, GROWING IN GEORGIA].

Roots and rhizomes of Vinca herbacea Waldst. et Kit, were collected during early flowering and fruiting. Рhenophases biologically active substances I and II were obtained by liquid-liquid extraction. Dominant alkaloids: tabersonin, reserpine, maidine, norfluorocurarin and copsinin were obtained after the dispertion in citrare-phosfhate buffer and subsequent TLC. Accelerated restitution of granulocytopoiesis was observed in mice during both irradiation and myelotoxic drug-induced acute leucopenia. Increase in total WBC over 200% was observed after treatment by substance I in drug-induced leucopenia model (fivefold oral administration) and over 130% after treatment by substance I in irradiate mice (fivefold intraperitoneal administration). Morphological and anatomical structures of the underground organs of V. herbacea have been studied. The main microstructural characteristics are revealed - Rhizomes are characterized by coutinized epidermis, lamellar collenchyma, fibers and the texture of the vascular system of a monocyclic structure. The root system shows the whole cortex, the endoderm with Kaspar spots; the outer, radially continuous phloem tissue is located in the conducting system and distinguishes the cylindrical xylem tissue with annular and spiral-circular blood vessels.

Quantitative Determination of Vinpocetine in Dietary Supplements.

Current United States regulatory policies allow for the addition of pharmacologically active substances in dietary supplements if derived from a botanical source. The inclusion of certain nootropic drugs, such as vinpocetine, in dietary supplements has recently come under scrutiny due to the lack of defined dosage parameters and yet unproven short- and long-term benefits and risks to human health. This study quantified the concentration of vinpocetine in several commercially available dietary supplements and found that a highly variable range of 0.6-5.1 mg/serving was present across the tested products, with most products providing no specification of vinpocetine concentrations.

Identification and quantification of vinpocetine and picamilon in dietary supplements sold in the United States.

Vinpocetine and picamilon are drugs prescribed in many countries to treat a variety of cerebrovascular disorders. In the United States, vinpocetine and picamilon have never been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, but they are both available for sale directly to consumers as dietary supplements. We designed our study to determine the accuracy of supplement labels with regard to the presence and quantity of vinpocetine and picamilon. A validated ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode-array method was developed for the quantification of vinpocetine and picamilon. The separation was achieved using a reversed phase (C-18) column, photodiode array detection, and water/acetonitrile as the mobile phase. Vinpocetine and picamilon were detected at concentrations as low as 10 and 50 ng/mL, respectively. The presence of vinpocetine and picamilon was confirmed using reference standards. Twenty-three supplements labelled as containing vinpocetine were available for sale at two large supplement retail chains; 17 contained vinpocetine with quantities ranging from 0.3 to 32 mg per recommended daily serving. No vinpocetine was detected in six of the sampled supplements. The supplement label implied that vinpocetine was a constituent of lesser periwinkle in three of the supplements. Of the 31 picamilon supplements available for sale from a variety of retailers: 30 contained picamilon in quantities ranging from 2.7 to 721.5 mg per recommended daily serving. We found that consumers cannot obtain accurate information from supplement labels regarding the presence or quantity of vinpocetine and picamilon. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Simultaneous determination of vinblastine and its monomeric precursors vindoline and catharanthine in Catharanthus roseus by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry.

Catharanthus roseus is an important dicotyledonous medicinal plant that contains various anticancer components, such as vinblastine (VLB) and its monomeric precursors (vindoline and catharanthine). A capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) approach for the simultaneous determination of three components was developed in this work. Baseline separation for three components was achieved by using a running buffer consisting of 20 mM ammonium acetate and 1.5% acetic acid in <20 min. Quantification of three components was assigned in positive-ion mode at a protonated molecular ion [M+H](+). The CE-MS method was validated for linearity, sensitivity, accuracy and precision, and then used to determine the content of the above components. The detection limits of VLB, catharanthine and vindoline are 0.8, 0.1 and 0.1 µg/mL, respectively. The precision was not more than 4.54% and the mean recovery of the analytes was 95.04-97.04%. The CE-MS method was successfully applied to determine VLB and its monomeric precursors in real sample C. roseus.

HPLC determination of majdine in Vinca herbacea.

A reliable HPLC method coupled with DAD detection was developed and validated for determination of majdine in Vinca herbacea. The chromatographic separation was carried out on a Symmetry C18 column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm, Waters) with an isocratic solvent system of 25 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH = 3.0)-acetonitrile. UV detection was performed at 225 nm. Good linear behavior over the investigated concentration range was observed with the value of r2 > 0.9978. The method was reproducible with intra- and inter-day variations of less than 4.38%. The proposed method was linear, accurate, precise and specific. The validated method was successfully applied to quantify majdine in various parts of V. herbacea, which was collected during the flowering months of April and May. The results indicated that the developed HPLC method could be used for the quality control of V. herbacea and for the standardization of its extracts in majdine.

[Distribution and accumulation of vindoline, catharanthine and vinblastine in Catharanthus roseus cultivated in China].

OBJECTIVE: The content of vindoline, catharanthine and vinblastine in the root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit of Catharanthus roseus at various developmental stages were determined, and the biomass allocation was also determined to find the best harvest time. METHOD: The content of vindoline, catharanthine and vinblastine in the root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit of C. roseus were determined by HPLC. RESULT: The content of these alkaloids were influenced by season and it varied in the different tissues of the plant. The content of vindoline and catharanthine in the leaves were the highest, and there was no vindoline detected in the root, but the content of vinblastine in the flower was the highest; the content of vindoline and catharanthine reached the maximum between the August and September, and the content of vinblastine reached the highest after the September. The biomass was the highest in the initial stage of September. CONCLUSION: The best harvest time was in the initial stage of September.

[Analysis of catharanthine content and agronomic traits in Catharanthus roseus].

Catharanthine content and agronomic traits in major Catharanthus roseus varieties were analyzed. It was found that there existed great difference in catharanthine content and agronomic traits among the varieties. Catharanthine content was the highest in variety Pacifica Polka Dot (PPD), reaching 3.79 mg g(-1) dry leaf weight, and the lowest in variety Cooler Pink (CP) with only 0.9 mg g(-1) dry leaf weight. Correlation existed in certain extent between catharanthine content and agronomic traits in C. roseus. Path analysis showed that among all the agronomic traits analyzed, internodal distance positively affected catharanthine content at significant level (P<0.05), with the path coefficient being 1.473. This study provides useful information for high-catharanthine content C. roseus introduction and breeding.

Rapid identification of vinca alkaloids by direct-injection electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry and confirmation by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A simple and rapid method for the identification of Vinca alkaloids from a crude extract of Catharanthus roseus G. Don (Apocynaceae) by direct-injection electrospray ionisation (ESI) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) has been developed. The alkaloids vindoline, vindolidine, vincristine and vinblastine were evaluated in a commercial extract of C. roseus using this method. Catharanthine and its isomers 19S-vindolinine and vindolinine were detected in the commercial product by direct injection ESI/MS/MS and confirmed by preparation and by HPLC-ESI/MS. For the characterisation of different fragment fingerprints, ESI/MS/MS is a sensitive, rapid and convenient technique by which to identify some constituents in complex and mixed plant extracts.