quinine

(kwī`nīn', kwĭnēn`), white crystalline alkaloid with a bitter taste. Before the development of more effective synthetic drugs such as quinacrine, chloroquine, and primaquine, quinine was the specific agent in the treatment of malariamalaria,
infectious parasitic disease that can be either acute or chronic and is frequently recurrent. Malaria is common in Africa, Central and South America, the Mediterranean countries, Asia, and many of the Pacific islands.
..... Click the link for more information. . Almost insoluble in water, it dissolves readily in alcohol and other organic solvents. It is derived from the bark, called quina quina by the indigenous people of Peru, of several species of Cinchona and is used in the form of a salt, especially the sulfate. By the middle of the 17th cent. Jesuit missionaries had brought cinchona bark to Europe from South America, and quinine was isolated in 1820 by the French chemists J. B. CaventouCaventou, Joseph Bienaimé
, 1795–1877, French chemist. He was professor at the École de Pharmacie, Paris. With P. J. Pelletier he isolated quinine (from cinchona bark), strychnine, and brucine and studied the green pigment in plants (which they named chlorophyll).
..... Click the link for more information. and P. J. PelletierPelletier, Pierre Joseph
, 1788–1842, French chemist. With J. B. Caventou, he was cofounder of alkaloid chemistry and codiscoverer of quinine, strychnine, brucine, and other alkaloids. He also isolated such other substances as picrotoxin, caffeine, and piperine.
..... Click the link for more information. ; chemical synthesis was achieved in 1944 by R. B. WoodwardWoodward, Robert Burns,
1917–80, American chemist and educator, b. Boston, grad. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (S.B., 1936; Ph.D., 1937). He taught at Harvard from 1938, becoming Donner professor of science there in 1960.
..... Click the link for more information. and W. E. Doering, American chemists.

Certain strains of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum have now developed a resistance to chloroquine, and quinine is again the preferred drug in some regions. Quinine also has been used medicinally to allay fever and pain, to induce uterine contractions during labor, and as a sclerosing, or hardening, agent in the treatment of varicose veins. It is added to soft drinks called tonics, which are often mixed with alcoholic beverages. Excessive dosage or continuous use of quinine may cause cinchonism, characterized by ringing in the ears, headache, dizziness, changes in blood pressure, and even death.

Bibliography

See F. Rocco, The Miraculous Fever-Tree (2003).

Quinine

an alkaloid found in the bark and other parts of trees of the genera Cinchona and Remijia of the family Rubiaceae, which grow in tropical countries. Quinine was first isolated in pure form in 1820 by the French chemists P. Pelletier and J. Caventou. It was successfully synthesized in 1944 by the American chemists R. Woodward and W. Doering.

In its chemical structure, quinine is a complex polycyclic compound. A base, it is poorly soluble in water but readily soluble in alcohol, ether, and chloroform.

Quinine is a typical protoplasmic poison. In therapeutic doses it affects various systems of the organism; quinine hydrochloride, quinine dihydrochloride, and quinine sulfate are used in medicine. Quinine depresses the heat-regulator centers. It reduces the excitability of the heart muscle, lengthens the refractory period, and somewhat decreases cardiac contractility. It stimulates the muscles of the uterus and increases its contraction. Because of its ability to depress the vital activities of the erythrocytic forms of malarial plasmodia, quinine is used as an antimalarial agent. In toxic doses, it depresses the activity of the cerebral cortex, leading to loss of hearing, vertigo, nausea, and other symptoms of poisoning.

In view of the difficulty in synthesizing quinine, it is isolated from the bark of the cinchona tree. The USSR imports very little quinine because of the production of effective Soviet synthetic antimalarial agents and the almost complete eradication of malaria.

V. V. PARIN

What does it mean when you dream about quinine?

Quinine water is the solution that is drunk to relieve the fever of persons suffering from malaria. Perhaps the dreamer thirsts after self expression, and a situation or a condition has them in such an untenable position that they are feverish with frustration.

quinine

[′kwī‚nīn] (organic chemistry) C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂·3H₂O White powder or crystals, soluble in alcohol, ether, carbon disulfide, chloroform, and glycerol; an alkaloid derived from cinchona bark; used as an antimalarial drug and in beverages.

quinine

a bitter crystalline alkaloid extracted from cinchona bark, the salts of which are used as a tonic, antipyretic, analgesic, etc., and in malaria therapy. Formula: C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂

quinine

[kwi´nīn] an alkaloid of cinchona that is an antimalarial agent; it suppresses the asexual erythrocytic forms of malarial parasites and has a slight effect on the gametocytes. It also has analgesic, antipyretic, mild oxytocic, cardiac depressant, and sclerosing properties, and it decreases the excitability of the motor endplate. It is administered orally as the dihydrochloride, hydrochloride or sulfate salt or parenterally as the dihydrochloride salt in the treatment of malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. It is also used orally as the sulfate salt in the treatment of leg and foot cramps.

qui·nine

(kwī'nīn, -nēn, kwin'-īn, -ēn), The most important of the alkaloids derived from cinchona; an antimalarial effective against the asexual and erythrocytic forms of the parasite, but having no effect on the exoerythrocytic (tissue) forms. It does not produce a radical cure of malaria produced by Plasmodium vivax, P. malariae, or P. ovale, but is used in the treatment of chloroquine-resistant strains of P. falciparum.

quinine

(kwī′nīn′)n. A bitter alkaloid, C₂₀H₂₄N₂O₂, derived from the bark of several species of cinchona, used usually in the form of its sulfate salt to treat malaria and formerly to treat leg cramps. It is used in the form of its hydrochloride or sulfate salt as a flavoring, especially in tonic water.

qui·nine

(kwī'nīn, kwin'ēn) The most important of the alkaloids derived from cinchona; an antimalarial agent effective against the asexual and erythrocytic forms of the parasite but having no effect on the exoerythrocytic (tissue) forms; does not effect a radical cure of malaria produced by Plasmodium vivax, P. malariae, or P. ovale, but is used in the treatment of cerebral malaria and other severe attacks of malignant tertian malaria and in malaria produced by chloroquine-resistant strains of P. falciparum; also used as an antipyretic, analgesic, sclerosing agent, stomachic, and oxytocic (occasionally), and in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, myotonia congenita, and other myopathies.

quinine

The first drug found to be effective in the prevention and treatment of MALARIA. Quinine was originally derived from the bark of the cinchona tree. It is still used to treat CHLOROQUINE-resistant malaria but is no longer used as a PROPHYLACTIC. The drug is on the WHO official list.

quinine

an antimalarial DRUG, extracted from the bark of the Cinchona tree. It is an ALKALOID and is effective against SPOROZOITES in the RED BLOOD CELLS.

Quinine

One of the first treatments for malaria, quinine is a natural product made from the bark of the Cinchona tree. It was popular until being superseded by the development of chloroquine in the 1940s. In the wake of widespread chloroquine resistance, however, it has become popular again. Quinine, or its close relative quinidine, can be given intravenously to treat severe Falciparum malaria.Mentioned in: Malaria

qui·nine

(kwī'nīn, kwin'ēn) An agent effective against the asexual and erythrocytic forms of malaria but with no effect on the exoerythrocytic (tissue) forms; does not effect a radical cure of malaria, but is used to treat cerebral malaria and other severe outbreaks of malignant tertian malaria and in malaria produced by chloroquine-resistant strains of P. falciparum.

quinine

qui·nine

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qui•nine

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quinine

Bibliography

Quinine

What does it mean when you dream about quinine?

quinine

quinine

quinine

quinine

qui·nine

quinine

qui·nine

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quinine

Quinine

qui·nine

quinine

Words related to quinine

noun a bitter alkaloid extracted from chinchona bark

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