MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE: NEW CANCER KILLING CHAMPION

 Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) :The common plant which you can see everywhere and you might not have imgained how vast it is.🍀

The plant belongs to family Apocynaceae.It is one of the most medicinally valuable plant which is used for centuries for treatment of depression , diabetes , skin etc.  It is also used for treatment of cancer.It is an evergreen shrub or bush with a small flower of five petals.

Cancer :-

It is a non infectious disease. It involves rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries and can also invade adjoining parts of body and organs by process called metastasis.
The agents which cause cancer are called carcinogens. Cancer is a deadly disease.In simple it is uncontrolled cell division producing large mass of cells called tumours.

Vinca alkaloids:-

Vinca alkaloids are subsets of drugs obtained from plant periwinkle.They are naturally extracted from this plant and have cytotoxic and hypoglycemic effects. 
The four major alkaloids are :Vinblastine, vincristine, vinorebline and vindesine.
Vinflunine is also used for second line transitional cell carcinoma of the ureothelium.

Vinblastine and vincristine these are approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in Chemotherapy.There are certain other chemicals also .



Mechanism : 

The main cytotoxicity is due to their interactions with tubulin and disruption of microtubule function, comprising the mitotic spindle apparatus and causing metaphase arrest.They also inhibit cell proliferation by binding to microtubules which cause mitotic block and apoptosis.

Uses :-

They are used as an integral part of medicinal treatment for Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin lymphomas. It is used in breast cancer.These alkaloids have anti cancer activity with side effects like vomit, nausea, chest pain , fever,hairloss etc.

Want to see this plant by your own? Just look around you will find it everywhere.our Biodiversity is rich in various precious resources for humanity which are needed to be discovered.


Biblography :

The images are clicked by me. I have not taken any image from internet .
The information is taken from various sites
Wikepedia, www.nature.com , www.drugs.com, www.kew.org, 

SIMRAN GOSWAMI 
01-MSZ-20

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