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Catharanthus roseus(Madagascar periwinkle):

A Natural Antineoplastic and Antidiabetic

A Botanical Quick Reviewby Eric Yarnell, ND, RH

Catharanthus roseusoriginates from Madagascar, but has now been spread throughout the tropicsand subtropics by human activity. It has readily naturalized to almost every hot climate in which ithas been planted. When it was discovered by Europeans, it was wrongly classed as a Vincaor trueperiwinkle. This error was ultimately realized and corrected, and the plant was put in its owngenus. Though its primary traditional use was for people with diabetes, Catharanthusalso hasanticancer effects.

CancerCatharanthusis in the Apocynaceae family, well known for being rich in alkaloids. A USgovernment screening program incidentally discovered that Catharanthusextracts wereantineoplastic in vitro, leading ultimately to the licensing of the alkaloids vinblastine andvincristine, as well as some synthetic analogs today, as highly toxic chemotherapy drugs. Theabsolute levels of vinblastine and vincristine are considered far too low to explain the activity ofcrude extracts ofCatharanthus. Various studies show the presence of other antineoplastic alkaloidsin the plant (El-Sayed, et al. 1983; El-Sayed & Cordell 1981). This supports the hypothesis inbotanical medicine that herbs work due to a synergy among many different components and itdoesnt matter than two particular alkaloids are only present in tiny amounts.

Crude extracts ofCatharanthusmade using 50% and 100% methanol had significantanticancer activity against numerous cell types in vitro (at

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untreated diabetic rats and in diabetic rats given Catharanthuscompared to healthy controls. The

cause of this was not investigated. A 70% ethanol extract of leaves in an oral dose of 400 mg/kgwas shown to be 20% as effective as tolbutamide in diabetic rats, though much safer(Chattopadhyay 1999).

Miscellaneous ActionsIn an in vitro analysis, Catharanthuswas the most potent antioxidant herb analyzed among manyothers, including Thymus, Salviaand Rosmarinus(Zheng & Wang 2001). This was moderatelycorrelated to the high phenolic content in the herb.

Safety and DoseTraditional herbals do not specifically record toxicity of the herb, though some suggest it may

cause kidney or nerve problems. Some of these reports may only be extrapolating from the toxicityof isolated alkaloids, which is absurd given the low quantities of any single alkaloid in the plant.Catharanthus(90% methanol extract)was found to be mutagenic in vitro, though only aftermetabolic activation (Elgorashi, et al. 2003). The relevance of this finding to use of low ethanolextracts or teas, and whether or not the same thing would in occur in humans, is unknown.

An initial low-dose approach (0.5-1 ml three times per day of tincture) is recommended,working up to an effective dose while monitoring for any adverse effects.

ReferencesChattopadhyay RR (1999) A comparative evaluation of some blood sugar lowering agents ofplant originJ Ethnopharmacol67:36772

Chattopadhyay RR, Sarkar SK, Ganguli S, et al. (1991) Hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemiceffect of leaves ofVinca roseaLinn Indian J Physiol Pharmacol35, 145-51.

Chattopadhyay RR, Sarkar SK, Ganguli S, et al. (1992) Antiinflammatory and acute toxicitystudies with leaves ofVinca roseaLinn in experimental animals Indian J Physiol Pharmacol36:2912.

Elgorashi EE, Taylor JLS, Maes A, et al. (2003) Screening of medicinal plants used in SouthAfrican traditional medicine for genotoxic effects Toxicol Lett143:195-207

El-Sayed A, Cordell GA (1981) Catharanthus alkaloids. XXXIV. Catharanthamine, a newantitumor bisindole alkaloid from Catharanthus roseusJ Nat Prod44(3):289-93

El-Sayed A, Handy GA, Cordell GA (1983) Catharanthus alkaloids, XXXVIII. Confirmingstructural evidence and antineoplastic activity of the bisindole alkaloids leurosine-N'b-oxide(pleurosine), roseadine and vindolicine from Catharanthus roseusJ Nat Prod46(4):517-27

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Ghosh RK, Gupta I (1980) Effect ofVinca roseaand Ficus racemososuson hyperglycemia in ratsIndian J Animal Health19:1458

Haque N, Chowdhury SA, Nutan MT, et al. (2000) Evaluation of antitumor activity of somemedicinal plants of Bangladesh by potato disk bioassay Fitoterapia71(5):547-52.

Singh SN, Vats P, Suri S, et al. (2001) Effect of an antidiabetic extract ofCatharanthus roseusonenzymic activities in streptozotocin induced diabetic ratsJ Ethnopharmacol76:269-77

Ueda JY, Tezuka Y, Banskota AH, et al. (2002) Antiproliferative activity of Vietnamesemedicinal plants Biol Pharm Bull25(6):753-60

Wang S, Zheng Z, Weng Y, et al. (2004) Angiogenesis and anti-angiogenesis activity of Chinesemedicinal herbal extracts Life Sci74(20):2467-78

Zheng W, Wang SY (2001) Antioxidant Activity and Phenolic Compounds in Selected HerbsJAgric Food Chem49:5165-70

2004 Eric Yarnell, ND, RHThis article may be copied and distributed freely as long as absolutely nothing about it is altered without express consent of the author.