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eCAM Advance Access originally published online on January 16, 2006
eCAM 2006 3(1):39-48; doi:10.1093/ecam/nek011
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© The Author (2006). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved
The online version of this article has been published under an open access model. Users are entitled to use, reproduce, disseminate, or display the open access version of this article for non-commercial purposes provided that: the original authorship is properly and fully attributed; the Journal and Oxford University Press are attributed as the original place of publication with the correct citation details given; if an article is subsequently reproduced or disseminated not in its entirety but only in part or as a derivative work this must be clearly indicated. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Review

The Alkaloid Alstonine: A Review of Its Pharmacological Properties

E. Elisabetsky1 and L. Costa-Campos2

1Laboratório de Etnofarmacologia, ICBS, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, and 2Laboratório de Neuropsicofarmacologia, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense Criciúma, SC, Brazil

Indole compounds, related to the metabolism of tryptophan, constitute an extensive family, and are found in bacteria, plants and animals. Indolic compounds possess significant and complex physiological roles, and especially indole alkaloids have historically constituted a class of major importance in the development of new plant derived drugs. The indole alkaloid alstonine has been identified as the major component of a plant-based remedy, used in Nigeria to treat mental illnesses by traditional psychiatrists. Although it is certainly difficult to compare the very concept of mental disorders in different cultures, the traditional use of alstonine is remarkably compatible with its profile in experimental animals. Even though alstonine in mice models shows a psychopharmacological profile closer to the newer atypical antipsychotic agents, it also shows important differences and what seems to be an exclusive mechanism of action, not entirely clarified at this point. Considering the seemingly unique mode of action of alstonine and that its traditional use can be viewed as indicative of bioavailability and safety, this review focuses on the effects of alstonine in the central nervous system, particularly on its unique profile as an antipsychotic agent. We suggest that a thorough understanding of traditional medical concepts of health and disease in general and traditional medical practices in particular, can lead to true innovation in paradigms of drug action and development. Overall, the study of this unique indole alkaloid may be considered as another example of the richness of medicinal plants and traditional medical systems in the discovery of new prototypic drugs.

Keywords: alstonine – indole alkaloids – traditional psychiatry – antipsychotic – ethnopharmacology

For reprints and all correspondence: Elaine Elisabetsky, Caixa Postal 5072, 90041-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Tel/Fax: +55-51-33163121; E-mail: elaine.elisabetsky{at}gmailcom


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