Antimitotic effects of alkaloid compounds from native species of Vinca herbaceae L. compared with alkaloids of Catharanthus roseus L

Catharanthus roseus L. is one of the most important medicinal plants in the world. The alkaloids of this plant inhibit mitosis. Herbal periwinkle (Vinca herbacea L.) is the unique species of this genus, growing in north of Iran. In this study, anti-mitosis effects of Herbal periwinkle was studied related to Madagascaric for its effects on onion root meristem cells. The alkaloids of these plants were extracted by some different solvents including alcohol, ether, and chloroform and dried by vacuum rotary evaporator. Onions of the same size after three days were rooted in distilled water. The roots of the onions were treated at doses of zero, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mg/ml alkaloids for 8 and 24 hours. The data analysis was performed with Minitab software and Tukey test. The results showed that alkaloids of both species presented antimitotic effect. Alkaloids of both species reduced and/or inhibited cell division and mitosis phases. Generally, alkaloids caused a drastic reduction of cell division and chromosome station at the end of prophase and chromosome condensation. Comparison of analysis of variance and the means in some cases showed significant difference for both species with the control (alkaloid at a concentration of zero). The alkaloid contents of the two species significantly affected chromosome condensation and separation like colchicine. The alkaloids of both species were usable for plant cytology studies similar to colchicine but the Madagascar periwinkle resulted better than native herbal periwinkle.