Rai Vartika, Tandon Pramod Kumar, Khatoon Sayyada
Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226 007, India.
Pharmacognosy & Ethnopharmacology Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow 226 001, India.
Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:934182. doi: 10.1155/2014/934182. Epub 2014 Mar 10.
Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, a medicinal plant, has a very important place in the traditional as well as modern pharmaceutical industry. Two common varieties of this plant rosea and alba are named so because of pink and white coloured flowers, respectively. This plant comprises of about 130 terpenoid indole alkaloids and two of them, vincristine and vinblastine, are common anticancer drugs. The effect of chromium (Cr) on enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant components and on secondary metabolites vincristine and vinblastine was studied under pot culture conditions of both varieties of C. roseus. Antioxidant responses of these varieties were analyzed under 0, 10, 50, and 100 μM chromium (Cr) level in order to investigate the plant's protective mechanisms against Cr induced oxidative stress. The results indicated that Cr affects all the studied parameters and decreases growth performance. However, vincristine and vinblastine contents were increased under Cr stress. Results are quite encouraging, as this plant shows good antioxidant potential and increased the level of active constituents under Cr stress.
长春花（Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don）是一种药用植物，在传统医药和现代制药行业中都占有非常重要的地位。该植物的两个常见变种，即粉长春花（rosea）和白长春花（alba），分别因其粉色和白色的花朵而得名。这种植物含有约130种萜类吲哚生物碱，其中长春新碱和长春碱是常见的抗癌药物。在两种长春花变种的盆栽条件下，研究了铬（Cr）对酶促和非酶促抗氧化成分以及次生代谢产物长春新碱和长春碱的影响。在0、10、50和100 μM铬（Cr）水平下分析了这些变种的抗氧化反应，以研究植物对Cr诱导的氧化应激的保护机制。结果表明，Cr影响所有研究参数并降低生长性能。然而，在Cr胁迫下长春新碱和长春碱的含量增加。结果相当令人鼓舞，因为这种植物显示出良好的抗氧化潜力，并在Cr胁迫下提高了活性成分的水平。
