Veratrum Alkaloids with Antihypertensive Activity

The Influence of Age on Cardiac Refractory Periods in Man

“…Krayer el a/. (17) demonstrated that epinephrine shortens effective and functional refractory periods of atrioventricular conduction in the heart-lung preparation of dogs, and Siebens et al (25) have shown that epinephrine and norepinephrine shorten the refractory periods of atrium and ventricle in the dog. Our findings relate to increased catecholamine sensitivity in juvenile hearts.…”

Medicinal history of North American Veratrum

“…Cevanine alkaloids are distinct from the other two classes of Veratrum alkaloids in that they have a six-membered E-ring hypothesized to form through nucleophilic attack of the nitrogen in the piperidine ring on a neighboring methyl that has a suitable leaving group (such as a phosphate group) (Kaneko et al 1978, 1979). Cevanine alkaloids are highly hydroxylated in Veratrum plants, with 7–9 atoms of oxygen, and feature α-ketol and hemiketal linkages between C-4 and C-9 of the A and B rings respectively (Krayer and Meilman 1977; Kaneko et al 1970a). While many genera in Liliaceae produce steroidal alkaloids, some chemotaxanomic distinctions can be drawn.…”

“…Alongside their experiments with veratrine, Pelletier and Caventou published the first chemical investigation of steroidal alkaloids isolated from the rhizome V. album , noting that the resulting substance differed little from that obtained from S. officiale seeds (Pelletier and Caventou 1820). It is now known that the likely compounds in the veratrine isolated by Pelletier and Caventou were cevadine and veratridine, C-3 esters of veracevine, while those from V. album were likely polyallylic esters of germine, protoverine, and zygadenine (Krayer and Meilman 1977). …”

“…von Bezold and Hirt (1867) assumed this effect resulted from stimulation of sensory nerves on the inner surface of the heart which then inhibited the vasomotor center leading to peripheral vasodilation. This conclusion did not go unchallenged and the mechanism behind the vasodepressive response caused by veratrine was a source of controversy in the field of cardiac physiology for the following 60 years (see the review by Krayer and Meilman 1977 for an excellent early history). Finally, in 1939, the Austrian team of Jarisch and Richter (1939a, b) unequivocally confirmed von Bezold and Hirt’s hypothesis that the bradycardia and hypotension caused by veratrine were the result of reflex action originating in the ventricles of the heart and transmitted via the afferent and efferent pathway of the vagus nerves (Krayer 1961; Aviado and Aviado 2001).…”

Potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic steroidal alkaloids from Veratrum taliense

“…Previous phytochemical and pharmacological investigations have shown that the main active components of the genus Veratrum are the steroidal alkaloids . Moreover, some of them possessed anti-hypertensive (Krayer and Meilman, 1977), antiplatelet (Tang et al, 2010), and antitumor activities as well as teratogenic toxicity (Hovhannisyan et al, 2009). Especially, cyclopamine analogues have been regarded as the research hotspot in antitumor drugs due to inhibition of the Hedgehog signaling pathway (Tremblay et al, 2008).…”