RESUMO
Tabernaemontana alba and Tabernaemontana arborea are Apocynaceae species used in Mexican traditional medicine for which little phytochemical information exists. In this study, preliminary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analyses of different organs obtained from wild plants of both species identified a total of 10 monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (MIAs) and one simple indole alkaloid, nine of which were reported for the first time in these species. Furthermore, callus cultures were established from T. alba leaf explants and regeneration of whole plants was accomplished via somatic embryogenesis. The anti-addictive MIAs ibogaine and voacangine were then quantified by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection in wild plants of both species, as well as greenhouse-grown plants, in vitro-grown plantlets and embryogenic callus of T. alba. Ibogaine and voacangine were present in most samples taken from the whole plants of both species, with stem and root barks showing the highest concentrations. No alkaloids were detected in callus samples. It was concluded that T. alba and T. arborea are potentially viable sources of ibogaine and voacangine, and that these MIAs can be produced through somatic embryogenesis and whole plant regeneration of T. alba. Approaches to increase MIA yields in whole plants and to achieve alkaloid production directly in cell cultures are discussed.
Assuntos
Ibogaína/análogos & derivados , Ibogaína/análise , Tabernaemontana/química , Ibogaína/biossíntese , México , Especificidade da EspécieRESUMO
Four alkaloids were isolated from an alcoholic extract of the bark from the stem of Peschiera fuschiaefolia. Two of these compounds, voacamine and voacamidine, are dimeric alkaloids which are thought to be responsible for the antimalarial activity of these extracts. The mass spectra and the response factors of these four compounds were obtained by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry in the electrospray positive ionization mode. The concentrations of these alkaloids were measured in two different P. fuschiaefolia extracts. The ion chromatograms of the two extracts were compared on the basis of their [M + H](+) and [M + 2H](+2) ions characteristic of various alkaloids previously isolated from P. fuschiaefolia bark. The two extracts were found to differ mostly in the relative concentrations of the dimeric alkaloids.