Ethnopharmacological relevance

Mesembrine alkaloids are considered to be the primary active constituents of the South African medicinal plant Sceletium tortuosum (L.) N.E.Br. (Aizoaceae), and it is used as the dried or fermented aerial material from the plant, which is known as kanna (aka, channa, kougoed). Traditional regional use ranged from relieving thirst, mild analgesia, and alteration of mood. Current interest has focused primarily on the antidepressant action of preparations based on the plant and commercialization is expanding the recognition and availability of these preparations.

Materials and methods

Searches for the keywords “Sceletium or mesembrine” were performed in “PubMed-NCBI”, “Chemical Abstracts SciFinder” and “Thomson Reuters Web of Science” databases in addition to the inclusion of references cited within prior reviews and scientific reports. Additionally the “SciFinder” database was searched using 3a-phenyl-cis-octahydroindole in the SciFinder Substructure Module (SSM). Plant taxonomy was validated by the database “The Plant List”.

Results

This review focuses on the chemistry, analysis, and pharmacology of the mesembrine alkaloids. Despite a long history of medicinal used and research investigation, there has been a renewed interest in the pharmacological properties of the mesembrine alkaloids and much of the pharmacology has only recently been published. The two major active alkaloids mesembrine and mesembrenone are still in the process of being more fully characterized pharmacologically. They are serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which provides a rationale for the plant's traditional use as an antidepressant, but other actions are beginning to appear in the literature. Additionally, mesembrenone has reasonably potent PDE4 inhibitory activity. This review intends to provide an overview of the available literature, summarize the current findings, and put them in perspective with earlier studies and reviews.

中文翻译：

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脑膜碱生物碱：其发生，化学和药理作用的综述

民族药理学意义

薄荷脑生物碱被认为是南非药用植物苦荞（NE）的主要活性成分。（Aizoaceae），它被用作植物中干燥或发酵的空中物料，被称为kanna（aka，channa，kougoed）。传统的区域使用范围包括缓解口渴，轻度止痛和情绪改变。当前的兴趣主要集中在基于植物的制剂的抗抑郁作用上，并且商业化正在扩大这些制剂的认识和可用性。

材料和方法

除了在先前的评论和科学报告中引用的参考文献之外，还在“ PubMed-NCBI”，“化学文摘SciFinder”和“汤姆森路透科学网”数据库中搜索了关键词“ Sceletium或membemrine”。另外，在SciFinder子结构模块（SSM）中使用3a-苯基-顺-八氢吲哚来搜索“ SciFinder”数据库。植物分类法已通过“植物名单”数据库进行了验证。

结果

这篇综述着重于mesmbrine生物碱的化学，分析和药理学。尽管有很长的药物使用历史和研究调查，但人们对蛋黄素生物碱的药理学性质有了新的兴趣，许多药理学只是最近才发表。两种主要的活性生物碱美塞必林和美塞布雷酮仍在药理学上更全面地表征。它们是5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂，为植物作为抗抑郁剂的传统用途提供了理论依据，但其他作用也开始在文献中出现。另外，美塞米酮具有相当强的PDE4抑制活性。这篇评论旨在提供可用文献的概述，总结当前的发现，