Camptothecin Description:

Camptothecin,a kind of alkaloid proposed from the seed or root bark of the deciduous plant Camptotheca daviae.

It can directly destroy the DNA structure and bind to DNA.

Making DNA vulnerable to endonuclide attack, while inhibiting DNA polymerase and affecting DNA replication.

It  mainly sensitive to proliferating cells and is a cell cycle specific drug that acts on the S phase.

It has slight lethality to G1, G2 and M phase cells.

It has an inhibitory effect on a variety of animal tumors, has no cross-resistance with common antitumor drugs.

And can reduce toxicity without reducing efficacy when combined with glycyrrhizin monoamine salt.

The mechanism of topical treatment of psoriasis to inhibit the mitosis of rapidly dividing keratinocytes.

Make the proliferative spinous cell layer thin, disappear the keratinization, and restore the formation of granular layer to achieve therapeutic effect.

After intravenous injection, most of the drugs bind to plasma protein, the half-life in plasma, kidney and liver is 30 minutes.

And the content of gastrointestinal, bone marrow and kidney is the highest.

The product  excreted slowly, mainly by urine in its original form, and 17% can excreted within 48 hours.

It mainly used for gastric cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, head and neck cancer and bladder cancer.

Camptothecin Physical and chemical properties
Light yellow acicular crystal. Melting point 264 ~ 267℃, [α]D20+31.3°(chloroform: methanol =1∶2).

Insoluble in water, soluble in chloroform, methanol, ethanol.

The solution showed purplish-blue fluorescence under ultraviolet lamp, easily deteriorated in light, slightly hygroscopic.

Yellowish-green in case of concentrated sulfuric acid, and diluted with steamed water to produce yellowish-green fluorescence.

It reacts with bismuth potassium iodide to form an orange-red double salt precipitate.

It obtained by extracting the root or fruit powder in organic solvent.

It is highly toxic and should be extracted with care. It has anti-tumor activity.

Used to treat bowel cancer, rectal cancer, gastric cancer and leukemia, 10-hydroxycamptothecin is less toxic.