Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Av. Universidad 3000, Circuito Exterior S/N, Delegación Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, México.
2 papers in the library · 29 citations · publishing 2016-2019
Ten monoterpenoid indole alkaloids and one simple indole alkaloid were identified for the first time in Tabernaemontana alba and Tabernaemontana arborea, two Mexican medicinal plants. The anti-addiction compounds ibogaine and voacangine were found in most wild and greenhouse-grown whole plants, with highest concentrations in stem and root barks. Whole plants of T. alba were regenerated from leaf callus via somatic embryogenesis, but no alkaloids were detected in the callus itself. The species are potentially viable sources of ibogaine and voacangine, and approaches to increase alkaloid yields in plants and cell cultures are discussed.
Ibogaine and related ibogan alkaloids, which show anti-addictive effects against drugs of abuse, occur in several Apocynaceae species. This work used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and principal component analysis to compare alkaloid profiles of root and stem barks from four Mexican Tabernaemontana species with the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. Separation between species was attributed to quantitative differences in the major alkaloids coronaridine, ibogamine, voacangine, and ibogaine. T. iboga contained high concentrations of ibogaine, while Tabernaemontana samples showed predominance of either voacangine and ibogaine, or coronaridine and ibogamine. The results confirm that Mexican Tabernaemontana species are viable sources of anti-addictive compounds.