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Table 2 Inhibitory activity (%) Son 5-LO. Concentration Compound (50 tiM) Cardanolfraction 41.4

Four new alkaloids, representing the first members of new groups of polyindolinic alkaloids, have been isolated from the aerial parts of CALYCODENDRON MILNEI along with other alkaloids. The names vatine, its stereoisomer vatine A, vatamine, and vatamidine are proposed. They are polymers of six, seven, and eight N(b)-methyltryptamine units, respectively.

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Calycanthine, the principal alkaloid of the order Calycanthaceae, has been isolated from a species of the genus Psycho tria (Rubiaceae) occurring in sone Pacific islands. The drug is considered as a very powerful convulsant poison but very little is known about its mechanism of action. The symptoms observed were similar to those of some neuropoisons such as strychnine. The properties of this alkaloid have been investigated on the genesis, conduction, and transmission of the nerve impulse, using giant axons of the cockroach (Periplaneta americana). Calycanthine hydrochloride (105M), which did not alter nervous conduction in preand post-synaptic fibers, significantly reduced the efficacy of the synaptic transmission.