Effect of High Pressure Treating Catharanthus Roseus Seeds on Enhancing Content of Vinblastine in the Plant

Three groups of short annual Catharanthus roseus seeds were treated in high pressure nitrogen gas for 4 h at room temperature; the pressure was 10, 20 and 30 MPa, respectively. Other untreated seeds were regarded as a control group (abbreviated to CP). All seeds were planted under same condition. The vegetal character of the Catharanthus roseus was observed in detail and contents of Vinblastine and Vincristine in the plants were detected by HPLC. Experimental results indicated that the contents of Vinblastine increased remarkably and Vincristine tended to increase in the plants of the pressure treated groups in comparison to CP. It is also noticed that distributions of variance of the flowers and ill aftergrowth plants are corresponding approximately to that of the contents of Vinblastine. Mechanism of the effects of pressure treatment was discussed qualitatively.