CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS Linn. G.Donn.

ORIGIN AND BOTANICAL TRAITS

Family: Apocynaceae

Pronunciation: cath-ar-AN-thus ROW-zee-us

Common names

This species was formerly known as Vinca rosea .

Periwinkle
Nityakalyani
Billaganneru
Ainskati
Indian names Nayantra
Rattanjot
Sada bahar
Sadaphul
Ushamanjairi

Origin and Distribution

Native of Madagascar.

Abundantly naturalized in many regions, particularly in arid coastal locations.

Grown commercially for its medicinal uses in Australia, Africa, India and Southern
Europe.

Cultivated as an ornamental plant almost throughout the tropical and subtropical world.

Botanical trait

Nature: Perennial herb]

Appearance: An erect bushy perennial herb and evergreen shrub

Height: Grows to a height of 90 centi metre with a spread of
one m.

Stem Erect

Leaves Simple, opposite, exstipulate, petiolate.

The inflorescence is racemose.
Flowers: Soft pink, tinged with red

Petals Five petals appearing in spring and autumn.

Varieties There are three varieties as given below

Rose purple flowers
White flower
White flowers with a rose purple spot in the centre.

First type is being cultivated because of its higher

alkaloid content.

Recently, two white flowered varieties named "Nirmal"

and "Dhawal" have been released by the CIMAP,
Lucknow.

Chemical Constituents
Contains more than 70 alkaloids mostly of the indole type.

It has medicinal importance owing to the presence of alkaloids like Ajamalicine,

Serpentine and Reserpine, which are well known for their hypotensive and
antospasmodic properties.

APPLICATION
Periwinkle roseus is one of the few medicinal plants which has found mention in the folk
medicinal literature as early as 2nd B.C.

Vincristine is an alkaloid derived from flowering periwinkle.

Its use is limited because of its toxic effects, among them being neuro toxicity.

Pharmacology
The rootbark contains the alkaloid Alstonine which has been used traditionally for its
calming effect and its ability to reduce blood pressure.

The anti cancer drug namely Vincristine and Vinblastine are produced from Periwinkle

Pharmaceutical Activities
Animal repellent activity Anithyperglycemic activity Antiascariasis activity
Anti-inflamatory Antimalarial Antimitotic
Antibacterial Antihyperglycemic Antihypertensive
Antifertility Antihypercholesterolemic Antimutagenic
Antidiuretic Antifungal Antispasmodic
Antiviral Cardiotonic CNS depresant
Antitumor Cytotoxic Antispermatogenic
Hyperglycemic Hypoglycemic Hypotensive

Inotropic Insect feeding deterent Insect sterility induction

Insecticidal Insulin Larvicidal

Leukopenic Smooth muscle relaxant Spasmogenic

Uterine relaxation effect Uterine Stimulant effect

Anti cancer drug

Vinblastine and vincristine are alkaloids found in Periwinkle

They are all administered intravenously in their sulphate form. These solutions are fatal if
they're administered any other way and can cause a lot of tissue irritation if they leak out
of the vein.

Although these compounds are very similar in structure and have the same basic action,
they have distinctly different effects on the body.

Most commonly used in treatment of the following type of cancers:

Lymphomas
Hodgkin's Disease
Breast cancer
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia
Soft tissue sarcomas
Multiple Myeloma
Neuroblastoma

More recently, extracts from Madagascar periwinkle have been shown to be effective in
the treatment of various kinds of leukemia, skin cancer, lymph cancer, breast cancer and
Hodgkin's disease.

CULTIVATION PRACTICES
Regions cultivated in India

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal

Type Annual

No specific climatic requirements but mostly

Climate Tropical and Sub-tropical area

The plant tolerates heat and drought and can be

 relied on to flower in the hottest weather.

Soil Light sandy soils rich in humus are preferred for

large scale cultivation of the plant

Soil must be moist but well-drained, as too much

moisture could lead to bacterial fungus or stem rot.

Rain Rainfall of 100 cm or more is considered ideal for

raising it as a commercial crop under rainfed
conditions

Light requirements It can be grown in sun or shade

Flowers Pink, red, white

Takes a long time to flower when started from seed.

Stem The brittle stems break easily.

Propagation is by seed or cuttings. Softwood

cuttings can be taken and rooted during summer.

Propagation Should be kept in the dark until the seed germinates

and do not over-water.

Propagation Through Seeds

Seeds required per hectare 2 to 3 kg
Seeding period March to April
Seed germination period About 10 days time
Planting material Within two months
Seed spacing 45 cm x 30 cm or
45 cm x 45 cm

Height 15 cm to 30 cm

Ready for harvest of root after one year

The crop is cut about 7.5 cm above the ground and

Harvesting dried for stems, leaves and seeds.

Then the whole field is copiously irrigated and

ploughed and the roots are collected.
 Yield

Under rainfed conditions(All dry basis)

Basis: One hectare

Roots 0.75 tonne

Stems 1 tonne
Leaves 1 to 2 tonnes

Under irrigated conditions

Basis: One hectare

Roots 1.5 tonne

Stems 1.5 tonne
Leaves 2 tonne

EXTRACTION PROCESS

The roots are washed well and dried in shade and later made into bundles for marketing

Processing for Vincristine and Vinblastine

Whole plant is dried and further sent to processing units for the production of anti cancer
drug Vincristine and Vinblastine

Yield

One tonne of Vinca rosea leaves yield 50 grams of Vincristine sulphate in crude form.

On further purification, 40 grams of Vincristine is obtained

DRIVING FACTORS FOR DEMAND

In recent times, a number of anti cancer drug have been developed and the use of
vincristine for anti cancer treatment is selective.

The demand for Periwinkle is largely dependent upon the extent of demand for
Vincristine/Vinblastine which are anti cancer drugs.

Importance of the product

Both vinblastine and vincristine at relatively low doses (<1 mg/kg/day for 10 days) can
prolong the life span of leukaemia animals by 100% and more. Vincristine is particularly
effective against P1535 leukaemia.
Both vincristine and vinblastine are used in the treatment of various forms of malignant
diseases in man. Vincristine is superior to vinblastine for the treatment of
lymphosarcoma, but this is in part counter balanced, by its greater toxicity.

Vinca alkaloids are useful in the treatment of both maligant and non malignant diseases.
Though these alkaloids are useful in platelet and platelet associated disorders, it is in
treating malignancy that they are truly an indispensable part of the pharmacopoeia.

Vinca alkaloids are exceedingly important in both curative and palliative regimens. The
use of vincristine to treat thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is reported to be
successful. This rare disease cause sporadic thrombosis of small vessels with consequent
intravascular hemolysis. Vincristine has also been used successfully in the treatment of
drug induced microangiopathic hemolytic anaemia.

The dose requirements of both alkaloids differ markedly, the weekly intravenous dose of
vincristine for humans is 0.1-0.2 mg/kg, while that of vinblastine is approximately one-
tenth of this, Vinblastine is considered to have higher potency in bone marrow
depression.

The side effects of these drugs are most probably caused by the metabolites of the
alkaloids, since it is assumed that these disindole bases are unable to cross the blood brain
barrier.

Adverse effects of Vincristine/Vinblastine

They are all administered intravenously in their sulphate. These solutions would be are
fatal if they would be administered in any other way and can cause a lot of tissue
irritation if they leak out of the vein.

The most notable side-effects of vincristine and vinblastine are neurotoxic and
myelosuppressive; influencing motor and neuron function, along with bone marrow
depression. It therefore effects the Xue/Blood level and damages Liver Blood and Kidney

It would be of great benefit to use herbs to supplement Liver and Kidney, and Clear Heat
Toxin if this drug is to be used with reduced side effects.

Low yield in process

Vincristine, the antileukaemia drug which is demand, suffers from the disadvantage of
very low yields from the source material, and so is prohibitively expensive.

Vinblastine, another anticancer drug from the same plant is present at levels a 1000 times
higher than vincristine and the cost is a third of vincristine.
Vinblastine is now being used as the parent drug to obtain, through structural
modifications, the pro drug vincristine.
Present use pattern in the world

Vincristine is used for treatment of acute leukemia and also has been shown to be useful
in combination with other oncolytic agents in Hodgkin’s disease, non-Hodgkin’s
malignant lymphomas, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, and Wilms’ tumor.

Discussions with specialist organisations such as Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai

confirmed the continued use and relevance of Vincristine for cancer treatment.

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE POSITION FOR A NEW INDUSTRY AND

RECOMMENDATION
Importance of the product

The important application of Periwinkle is for the production of anticancer drug known
as Vincristine/Vinblastine and other alkaloids.

In recent times, a number of new anti cancer drugs have been developed, which are said
to be more effective for specific conditions.

However, Vincristine is continued to be used for treatment of acute leukemia and also has
been shown to be useful in combination with other oncolytic agents in Hodgkin’s disease,
non-Hodgkin’s malignant lymphomas, rhabdomyosarcoma, neuroblastoma, and Wilms’
tumor.

Suitable climate in Tamil Nadu

In view of the tropical climate, a few regions in India such as Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu
and Rajasthan are considered to be ideal location for cultivating Periwinkle. Both dry
leaves and alkaloids are being exported regularly