Ipecacuanha or ipecac consists of the dried rhizomes and roots of Cephaelis ipecacuanha (Bortero) or Cephaelis acuminata (Karsten) (Rubiaceae).

Commercial Importance

Ipecac in the form of syrup is used in the treatment of drug overdose and poisoning for its emetic effect. Vomiting induced by emetine, a principal alkaloid of ipecac, is used as model to study the therapeutic effect of newer anti-emetics. Emetine is an isoquinoline group alkaloid derived form ipecac and used in the treatment of amoebic dysentery. Emetine and cephaeline, its chief alkaloids, are shown to have anti-tumour and anti-HIV properties, which are being further explored.

Species and Distribution

C. ipecacuanha and C. acuminata are low straggling shrubs having horizontal rhizomes with prominently ridged roots. C. ipecacuanha yields what is termed Rio, Brazilian or MattoGrasso ipecac and is cultivated mainly in Brazil. It occurs in tortuous pieces. C. ipecacuanha is also successfully produced by cultivation in India (Darjeeling hills), Malaysia and in Selangor.

C. acuminata gives Cartagena, Nicaragua, Panama or Costa Rica ipecac and comes principally from Columbia and Nicaragua. The root is of a larger diameter than the Rio root.

Harvest

The plants grow in clumps in the woods and the roots are collected from such wild plants. They are levered from the ground, roots removed and the plant replaced in the ground to produce a further crop of roots and rhizomes. The collected roots are sundried or over fires, freed of adhering soil and packed in bales for export.

Constituents

Ipecac contains 2% to 2.5% alkaloids, the principal ones being emetine and cephaeline typically in the ratio 2:1 in C. ipeacacuanha and 1:2 to 1:1 in C. acuminata. Minor alkaloids are psychotrine, o-methyl psychotrine, which are dehydro derivatives of cephaeline and emetine respectively. Monoterpenoid isoquinoline glycosides ipecoside, alangoside, iridoid glycosides sweroside, 7-dehydrologanin are also found in the root.