Galanthamine, an isoquinoline alkaloid and the current drug of choice for treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer disease, is mainly obtained from Amaryllidaceae members. At present, the production of galanthamine from available natural plant sources is not sufficient to meet the demands of pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, overexploitation of the plant material leads to the depletion of a...

Improved radiopharmaceuticals for imaging cerebral acetylcholinesterase (AChE) are needed for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus, (11)C-labeled (-)-galanthamine and its enantiomers were synthesized as novel agents for imaging the localization and activity of AChE by positron emission tomography (PET). C-11 was incorporated into (-)- and (+)-[(11)C]galanthamine by N-methylation of n...

The galanthamine, lycorine, and lycoramine content of Lycoris chinensis was researched during development from young to old plants, i.e. in seeds, ten-day-old seedlings, three-month-old seedlings, one-year-old seedlings, and perennial seedlings. Notably the alkaloid level reduced to its lowest content 10 days after seed germinating. Then the accumulation of galanthamine tended to increase with ...

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a disorder associated with progressive degeneration of memory and cognitive function. Galantamine licenced treatment for AD but supplies the plant alkaloid that it produced from, galanthamine, are limited. This three-year system study tested potential to combine Narcissus -derived galanthamine production grassland-based ruminant production. Replicate plots p...

Galanthamine hydrobromide (Nivalin), an alkaloid from the bulbs of snowdrops, is widely used in Bulgaria as an antagonist to non-depolarizing muscle relaxants. The pharmacology is reviewed and experiences in the use of galanthamine in 24 patients are described. It is about one-tenth as potent as neostigmine. As changes in pulse rate and blood pressure were slight, it is rarely necessary to inje...

Galanthamine is an Amaryllidaceae alkaloid used to treat the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. This compound is primarily isolated from daffodil (Narcissus spp.), snowdrop (Galanthus spp.), and summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum). Despite its importance as a medicine, no genes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of galanthamine have been identified. This absence of genetic information on biosy...

The bulbs and aerial parts of Zephyranthes concolor (Lindl.) Benth. & Hook. f. (Amaryllidaceae), an endemic species to Mexico, were found to contain the alkaloids chlidanthine, galanthamine, galanthamine N-oxide, lycorine, galwesine, and epinorgalanthamine. Since currently only partial and low resolution (1)H-NMR data for chlidanthine acetate are available, and none for chlidanthine, its 1D and...

Many secondary plant compounds are synthesized in response to stressed growing conditions. We tested the feasibility of exploiting this feature in a novel strategy for the commercial production of the plant alkaloid galanthamine. Experimental lines of Narcissus pseudonarcissus were established under marginal upland permanent pasture at four different sites. Over 80% of bulbs successfully establ...

The anticholinesterase drug galanthamine is obtained from alkalinized serum by repeated liquid--liquid extraction. The resulting extract is approximately 100 times concentrated with respect to the original sample. Quantitative determination of galanthamine is performed with normal-phase liquid chromatography using a mixture of dichloromethane--n-hexane and ethanolamine as an eluent. Phenacetin ...