Quinine is a medication used to treatmalaria andbabesiosis.[5] This includes the treatment of malaria due toPlasmodium falciparum that is resistant tochloroquine whenartesunate is not available.[5][6] While sometimes used fornocturnal leg cramps, quinine is not recommended for this purpose due to the risk of seriousside effects.[5] It can be taken by mouth orintravenously.[5] Malaria resistance to quinine occurs in certain areas of the world.[7] Quinine is also used as an ingredient intonic water and other beverages to impart a bitter taste.[8]
Common side effects include headache,ringing in the ears, vision issues, andsweating.[5] More severe side effects includedeafness,low blood platelets, and anirregular heartbeat.[5] Use can make one more prone tosunburn.[5] While it is unclear if use during pregnancy carries potential for fetal harm, treating malaria during pregnancy with quinine when appropriate is still recommended.[5] Quinine is analkaloid, a naturally occurring chemical compound.[5] How it works as a medicine is not entirely clear.[5]
Quinine was first isolated in 1820 from the bark of acinchona tree, which is native toPeru,[5][9][10] and its molecular formula was determined byAdolph Strecker in 1854.[11] The class of chemical compounds to which it belongs is thus called the cinchona alkaloids. Bark extracts had been used to treat malaria since at least 1632 and it was introduced to Spain as early as 1636 byJesuit missionaries returning from theNew World.[12] It is on theWorld Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.[13] Treatment of malaria with quinine marks the first known use of a chemical compound to treat an infectious disease.[14]
As of 2006, quinine is no longer recommended by theWorld Health Organization (WHO) as a first-line treatment formalaria, because there are other substances that are equally effective with fewer side effects. They recommend that it be used only whenartemisinins are not available.[why?][15][16][17][18] Quinine is also used to treatlupus andarthritis.
Quinine was frequently prescribed as anoff-label treatment forleg cramps at night, but this has become less common since 2010 due to a warning from the USFood and Drug Administration (FDA) that such practice is associated with life-threatening side effects.[19][20][21] Quinine can also act as a competitive inhibitor ofmonoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme that removes neurotransmitters from the brain. As anMAO inhibitor, it has potential to serve as a treatment for individuals with psychological disorders, similar to antidepressants that inhibit MAO.[22]
Quinine is a basicamine and is usually provided as a salt. Various existing preparations include thehydrochloride, dihydrochloride,sulfate, bisulfate andgluconate. In the United States, quinine sulfate is commercially available in 324 mg tablets under the brand name Qualaquin.
All quinine salts may be given orally orintravenously (IV); quinine gluconate may also be givenintramuscularly (IM) or rectally (PR).[23][24] The main problem with rectal administration is that the dose can be expelled before it is completely absorbed; in practice, this is corrected by giving a further half dose. No injectable preparation of quinine is licensed in the US;quinidine is used instead.[25][26]
Tonic water was initially marketed as a means of delivering quinine to consumers in order to offer anti-malarial protection. According to tradition, because of the bitter taste of anti-malarial quinine tonic, British colonials in India mixed it withgin to make it more palatable, thus creating thegin and tonic cocktail, which is still popular today.[28] While it is possible to drink enough tonic water to temporarily achieve quinine levels that offer anti-malarial protection, it is not a sustainable long-term means of protection.[29]
In France, quinine is an ingredient of anapéritif known asquinquina, or"Cap Corse", and the wine-basedapéritifDubonnet. In Spain, quinine (also known as "Peruvian bark" for its origin from the native cinchona tree) is sometimes blended into sweetMalaga wine, which is then called"Malaga Quina". In Italy, the traditional flavoured wineBarolo Chinato is infused with quinine and local herbs, and is served as adigestif. In Britain, the companyA.G. Barr uses quinine as an ingredient in the carbonated andcaffeinated beverageIrn-Bru. In Uruguay and Argentina, quinine is an ingredient of aPepsiCo tonic water namedPaso de los Toros. In Denmark, it is used as an ingredient in the carbonated sports drinkFaxe Kondi made byRoyal Unibrew.
As a flavouring agent in drinks, quinine is limited to 83 ppm (100 mg/L) in the United States, and in the European Union.[30][31][32]
Quinine can causehemolysis inG6PD deficiency (an inherited deficiency), but this risk is small and the physician should not hesitate to use quinine in people with G6PD deficiency when there is no alternative.[37]
While not necessarily an absolute contraindication, concomitant administration of quinine with drugs primarily metabolized byCYP2D6 may lead to higher than expected plasma concentrations of the drug, due to quinine's strong inhibition of the enzyme.[38]
The most common adverse effects involve a group of symptoms calledcinchonism, which can include headache, vasodilation and sweating, nausea,tinnitus, hearing impairment,vertigo or dizziness, blurred vision, and disturbance in color perception.[5][35][37] More severe cinchonism includes vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, deafness, blindness, and disturbances in heart rhythms.[37] Cinchonism is much less common when quinine is given by mouth, but oral quinine is not well tolerated (quinine is exceedingly bitter and many people will vomit after ingesting quinine tablets).[5] Other drugs, such as Fansidar (sulfadoxine withpyrimethamine) or Malarone (proguanil withatovaquone), are often used when oral therapy is required. Quinine ethyl carbonate is tasteless and odourless,[39] but is available commercially only in Japan. Blood glucose, electrolyte and cardiac monitoring are not necessary when quinine is given by mouth.
This sectionis missing information about cramp mechanism; MAOI action aforementioned. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(December 2022)
Cinchona trees remain the only economically practical source of quinine. However, under wartime pressure during World War II, research towards its synthetic production was undertaken. A formal chemical synthesis was accomplished in 1944 by American chemistsR.B. Woodward andW.E. Doering.[44] Since then, several more efficientquinine total syntheses have been achieved,[45] but none of them can compete in economic terms with isolation of the alkaloid from natural sources. The first syntheticorganicdye,mauveine, was discovered byWilliam Henry Perkin in 1856 while he was attempting to synthesize quinine.
In the first step of quininebiosynthesis, the enzyme strictosidine synthase catalyzes a stereoselectivePictet–Spengler reaction betweentryptamine andsecologanin to yieldstrictosidine.[46][47] Suitable modification ofstrictosidine leads to an aldehyde. Hydrolysis and decarboxylation would initially remove one carbon from the iridoid portion and produce corynantheal. Then thetryptamine side-chain were cleaved adjacent to the nitrogen, and this nitrogen was then bonded to the acetaldehyde function to yield cinchonaminal. Ring opening in the indole heterocyclic ring could generate new amine and keto functions. The new quinoline heterocycle would then be formed by combining this amine with the aldehyde produced in thetryptamine side-chain cleavage, giving cinchonidinone. For the last step, hydroxylation and methylation gives quinine.[48][49]
Quinine was used as a muscle relaxant by theQuechua people, who are indigenous toPeru,Bolivia andEcuador, to halt shivering.[51] The Quechua would mix the ground bark ofcinchona trees with sweetened water to offset the bark's bitter taste, thus producing something similar totonic water.[52]
SpanishJesuit missionaries were the first to bring cinchona to Europe. The Spanish had observed the Quechua's use of cinchona and were aware of the medicinal properties of cinchona bark by the 1570s or earlier:Nicolás Monardes (1571) and Juan Fragoso (1572) both described a tree, which was subsequently identified as the cinchona tree, whose bark was used to produce a drink to treatdiarrhea.[53] Quinine has been used in unextracted form by Europeans since at least the early 17th century.[54]
A popular story of how it was brought to Europe by theCountess of Chinchon was debunked by medical historianAlec Haggis around 1941.[55] During the 17th century, malaria was endemic to theswamps andmarshes surrounding the city ofRome. It had caused the deaths of severalpopes, manycardinals and countless common Roman citizens. Most of the Catholicpriests trained in Rome had seen malaria patients and were familiar with theshivering brought on by thefebrile phase of the disease.
TheJesuit Agostino Salumbrino (1564–1642),[56] anapothecary by training who lived inLima (now in present-dayPeru), observed the Quechua using the bark of the cinchona tree to treat such shivering. While its effect in treating malaria (and malaria-induced shivering) was unrelated to its effect in controlling shivering fromrigors, it was a successful medicine against malaria. At the first opportunity, Salumbrino sent a small quantity to Rome for testing as a malaria treatment.[57] In the years that followed, cinchona bark, known asJesuit's bark or Peruvian bark, became one of the most valuable commodities shipped from Peru to Europe. WhenKing Charles II was cured of malaria at the end of the 17th Century with quinine, it became popular inLondon.[58] It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s, when other drugs took over.[59]
The form of quinine most effective in treating malaria was found byCharles Marie de La Condamine in 1737.[60][61] In 1820, French researchersPierre Joseph Pelletier andJoseph Bienaimé Caventou first isolated quinine from the bark of a tree in the genusCinchona – probablyCinchona pubescens – and subsequently named the substance.[62] The name was derived from the originalQuechua (Inca) word for the cinchona tree bark,quina orquina-quina, which means "bark of bark" or "holy bark". Prior to 1820, the bark was dried, ground to a fine powder, and mixed into a liquid (commonly wine) in order to be drunk. Large-scale use of quinine as a malariaprophylaxis started around 1850. In 1853Paul Briquet published a brief history and discussion of the literature on "quinquina".[63]
Quinine played a significant role in the colonization of Africa by Europeans. The availability of quinine for treatment had been said to be the prime reason Africa ceased to be known as the "white man's grave". A historian said, "it was quinine's efficacy that gave colonists fresh opportunities to swarm into theGold Coast,Nigeria and other parts of west Africa".[64]
To maintain their monopoly on cinchona bark, Peru and surrounding countries began outlawing the export of cinchona seeds and saplings in the early 19th century. In 1865,Manuel Incra Mamani collected seeds from a plant particularly high in quinine and provided them toCharles Ledger. Ledger sent them to his brother, who sold them to the Dutch government. Mamani was arrested on a seed collecting trip in 1871, and beaten so severely, likely because of providing the seeds to foreigners, that he died soon afterwards.[65]
By the late 19th century the Dutch grew the plants in Indonesian plantations. Soon they became the main suppliers of the tree. In 1913 they set up theKina Bureau, a cartel of cinchona producers charged with controlling price and production.[66] By the 1930s Dutch plantations inJava were producing 22 million pounds of cinchona bark, or 97% of the world's quinine production.[64] U.S. attempts to prosecute the Kina Bureau proved unsuccessful.[66]
DuringWorld War II, Allied powers were cut off from their supply of quinine when Germany conquered the Netherlands, and Japan controlled thePhilippines andIndonesia. The US had obtained four million cinchona seeds from the Philippines and began operating cinchona plantations inCosta Rica. Additionally, they began harvesting wild cinchona bark during theCinchona Missions. Such supplies came too late. Tens of thousands of US troops in Africa and the South Pacific died of malaria due to the lack of quinine.[64] Despite controlling the supply, the Japanese did not make effective use of quinine, and thousands of Japanese troops in the southwest Pacific died as a result.[67][68][69][70]
Quinine remained the antimalarial drug of choice until after World War II. Since then, other drugs that have fewer side effects, such aschloroquine, have largely replaced it.[71]
Bromo Quinine werebrand namecold tablets containing quinine, manufactured by Grove Laboratories. They were first marketed in 1889 and available until at least the 1960s.[72]
Conducting research in central Missouri,John S. Sappington independently developed an anti-malaria pill from quinine. Sappington began importing cinchona bark from Peru in 1820. In 1832, using quinine derived from the cinchona bark, Sappington developed a pill to treat a variety of fevers, such as scarlet fever, yellow fever, and influenza in addition to malaria. These illnesses were widespread in the Missouri and Mississippi valleys. He manufactured and sold "Dr. Sappington's Anti-Fever Pills" across Missouri. Demand became so great that within three years, Sappington founded a company known as Sappington and Sons to sell his pills nationwide.[73]
The bark ofRemijia contains 0.5–2% of quinine. The bark is cheaper than bark ofCinchona. As it has an intense taste, it is used for makingtonic water.[74]
From 1969 to 1992, the USFood and Drug Administration (FDA) received 157 reports of health problems related to quinine use, including 23 which had resulted in death.[75] In 1994, the FDA banned the marketing ofover-the-counter quinine as a treatment for nocturnal leg cramps.PfizerPharmaceuticals had been selling the brand name Legatrin for this purpose. It is also sold as a softgel (by SmithKlineBeecham) as Q-vel.[citation needed] Doctors may still prescribe quinine, but the FDA has ordered firms to stop marketing unapproved drug products containing quinine. The FDA is also cautioning consumers aboutoff-label use of quinine to treat leg cramps.[19][20] Quinine is approved for treatment of malaria, but was also commonly prescribed to treat leg cramps and similar conditions. Because malaria is life-threatening, the risks associated with quinine use are considered acceptable when used to treat that condition.[76]
Though Legatrin was banned by the FDA for the treatment of leg cramps, the drug manufacturer URL Mutual has branded a quinine-containing drug named Qualaquin. It is marketed as a treatment for malaria and is sold in the United States only by prescription. In 2004, the CDC reported only 1,347 confirmed cases of malaria in the United States.[77]
For much of the 20th century, women's use of an overdose of quinine to deliberately terminate a pregnancy was a relatively commonabortion method in various parts of the world, including China.[78]
^Foley M, Tilley L (February 1997). "Quinoline antimalarials: mechanisms of action and resistance".International Journal for Parasitology.27 (2):231–240.doi:10.1016/s0020-7519(96)00152-x.PMID9088993.
^World Health Organization (2023).The selection and use of essential medicines 2023: web annex A: World Health Organization model list of essential medicines: 23rd list (2023). Geneva: World Health Organization.hdl:10665/371090. WHO/MHP/HPS/EML/2023.02.
^"Quinine".Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved12 November 2021.
^Foley M, Tilley L (February 1997). "Quinoline antimalarials: mechanisms of action and resistance".International Journal for Parasitology.27 (2):231–240.doi:10.1016/s0020-7519(96)00152-x.PMID9088993.
^Kaufman TS, Rúveda EA (2005). "Die Jagd auf Chinin: Etappenerfolge und Gesamtsiege".Angewandte Chemie International Edition (in German).117 (6):876–907.Bibcode:2005AngCh.117..876K.doi:10.1002/ange.200400663.
^Mizukami H, Nordlöv H, Lee SL, Scott AI (August 1979). "Purification and properties of strictosidine synthetase (an enzyme condensing tryptamine and secologanin) from Catharanthus roseus cultured cells".Biochemistry.18 (17):3760–3763.doi:10.1021/bi00584a018.PMID476085.
^Medicinal natural products : a biosynthetic approach (3rdition ed.). Wiley. pp. 380–381.ISBN9780470742761.
^O'Connor SE, Maresh JJ (August 2006). "Chemistry and biology of monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis".Natural Product Reports.23 (4):532–547.doi:10.1039/b512615k.PMID16874388.
^abReyes E, Uria U, Vicario JL, Carrillo L (13 September 2016), "The Catalytic, Enantioselective Michael Reaction",Organic Reactions,Hoboken, New Jersey, US: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., pp. 1–898,doi:10.1002/0471264180.or090.01,ISBN978-0-471-26418-7
^Flückiger FA,Hanbury D (1874)."Cortex Cinchonæ".Pharmacographia: A History of the Principal Drugs of Vegetable Origin, Met with in Great Britain and British India. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 302–331.
^Hobbs K, West D (2020).The Story of Trees : and how they changed the way we live. illustrated by Thibaud Hérem. London: Laurence King. p. 148.ISBN978-1-7862-7522-6.
Monardes N (1580).Primera y segunda y tercera partes de la Historia medicinal, de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales, que sirven en Medicina [First and second and third parts of medicinal History, of the things that are brought from our West Indies, which are used in Medicine] (in Spanish). Seville, Spain: Fernando Díaz. pp. 74–75.Del nuevo Reyno, traen una corteza, que dizen ser de un arbol, que es de mucha grandeza: el qual dizen que lleva unas hojas en forma de coraçon, y que no lleva fruto. Este arbol tiene una corteza gruessa, muy solida y dura, que en esto y en el color parece mucho a la corteza del palo que llaman Guayacan: en la superficie tiene una pelicula delgada blanquisca, quebrada por toda ella: tiene la corteza mas de un dedo de gruesso, solida y pesada: la qual gustada tiene notable amargor, como el de la Genciana: tiene en el gusto notable astriction, con alguna aromaticidad, porque al fin de mascar la respica della buen olor. Tienen los Indios esta corteza en mucho, y usan della en todo genero de camaras, que sean con sangre, o sin ella. Los Españoles fatigados de aquesta enfermedad, por aviso de los Indios, han usado de aquesta corteza y han sanado muchos dellos con ella. Toman della tanto como una haba pequeña hecha polvos, tomase en vino tinto, o en agua apropiada, como tienen la calentura, o mal: hase de tomar por la mañana en ayunas, tres o quatro vezes: usando en lo demas, la orden y regimiento que conviene a los que tienen camaras. [From the new kingdom, there is brought a bark, which is said to be from a tree, which is very large: it is said that it bears leaves in the form of a heart, and that it bears no fruit. This tree has a thick bark, very solid and hard, that in this and in its color looks much like the bark of the tree that is calledguayacán: on the surface, it has a thin, discontinuous whitish film throughout it: it has bark more than one finger thick, solid and heavy: which, when tasted, has a considerable bitterness, like that of the gentian: it has in its taste a considerable astringency, with some aromaticity, because at the end of chewing it, one breathes with a sweet odor. The Indians hold this bark in high regard, and use it for all sorts of diarrhea, that are with blood [i.e., bloody] and without it. The Spanish [who are] tired of this disease, on the advice of the Indians, have used this bark and have healed many of those with it. They take as much as a small bean, make [it into] powder, take it in red wine or in appropriate water, if they have fever or illness: it must be taken in the morning on an empty stomach, three or four times: otherwise, using the order and regimen that suits those who have diarrhea.]
Fragoso J (1572).Discursos de las cosas aromaticas, arboles y frutales, y de otras muchas medicinas simples que se traen de la India Oriental y que sirven al uso de medicina [Discourse on fragrant things, trees and fruits, as well as many other ordinary medicines that have been brought from India and the Orient and are of use to medicine] (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Francisco Sánchez. p. 35.En el nuevo mundo ay un grande arbol que lleva las hojas a forma de coraçon, y carece de fruto. Tiene dos cortezas, la una gruessa muy solida y dura, que assi en la sustancia como en el color es muy semejante al Guayacan: la otra es mas delgada y blanquezina, la qual es amarga con alguna estipticidad: y demas desto es aromatica. Tienenla en mucho nuestros Indios, porque la usan contra qualesquier camaras, tomando del polvo peso de una drama o poco mas, desatado en agua azerada, o vino tinto. [In the new world, there is a big tree that bears leaves in the form of a heart, and lacks fruit. It has two barks, one [is] thick, very solid, [and] hard, which in substance as well as in color is much likeguayacan [i.e.,lignum vitae]: the other is thinner and whitish, which is bitter with some styptic [i.e., astringent] quality: and besides this, it is aromatic. Our Indians regard it highly, because they use it against any diarrheas, taking a weight of a dram or a bit more of the powder, mixing it in mineral water, or red wine.]
^de Andrade A (3 August 1642). "Vida del Devoto Hermano Agustin Salumbrino" [The life of the devout Brother Agustin Salumbrino].Varones ilustres en santidad, letras y zelo de las almas de la Compañía de Jesús [Illustrious men in holiness, letters, and zeal for souls of theSociety of Jesus]. Varones ilustres de la Compañía de Jesús (in Spanish). Vol. 5. Original series byJuan Eusebio Nieremberg. Madrid, Spain: José Fernandez de Buendía (published 1666). pp. 612–628. p. 612:Naciò el Hermano Agustin Salumbrino el año de mil y quinientos y sesenta y quatro en la Ciudad de Fḷọṛi en la Romania […] [Brother Agustino Salumbrino was born in the year 1564 in the city ofForlì inRomagna]
Medina Rodríguez F, Aceves Ávila FJ, Moreno Rodríguez J (2007)."Precisions on the History of Quinine".Reumatología Clínica. Letters to the Editor.3 (4):194–196.doi:10.1016/S2173-5743(07)70246-0.ISSN2173-5743.In fact, though the last wordon this has not yet been spoken, there are Jesuit texts thatmention that quinine reached Rome in 1632, with theprovincial of the Jesuit missions in Peru, father AlonsoMessia Venegas, as its introducer, when he brought asample of the bark to present it as a primacy, and whohad left Lima 2 years earlier, because evidence of his stayin Seville 1632 has been registered, publishing one of hisbooks there and following his way to Rome as a procurator.
Torres Saldamando E (June 1882)."El P. Diego de Torres Vazquez".Los antiguos jesuitas del Perú (in Spanish). Lima, Peru: Imprenta Liberal. pp. 180–181. p. 181:Al siguiente año se dirigieron á Europa los Procuradores P. Alonso Messía Venegas y P. Hernando de Leon Garavito, llevando gran cantidad de la corteza de la quina, cuyo conocimiento extendieron por el mundo los jesuitas. [In the following year [i.e., 1631] there went to Europe the procurators Father Alonso Messia Venegas and Father Hernando de Leon Garavito, taking a great quantity of cinchona bark, knowledge of which the Jesuits spread throughout the world.]
Bailetti A."Capítulo 10: La Condesa de Chinchón".LA MISIÓN DEL JESUITA AGUSTÍN SALUMBRINO, la malaria y el árbol de quina.A últimas horas de la tarde del treinta y uno de mayo de 1631 se hizo a la vela la Armada Real con dirección a Panamá llevando el precioso cargamento de oro y plata. En una de las naves viajaban los procuradores jesuitas padres Alonso Messia y Hernando León Garavito custodiando los fardos con la corteza de quina en polvo preparados por Salumbrino. Después de casi veinte días de navegación el inapreciable medicamento llegó a la ciudad de Panamá, donde fue descargado para cruzar en mulas el agreste camino del itsmo palúdico hasta Portobelo para seguir a Cartagena y la Habana, cruzar el Atlántico y llegar a Sanlúcar de Barrameda en Sevilla. […] Finalmente siguió su camino a Roma y a su destino final el Hospital del Espíritu Santo. [Late in the afternoon of 31 May 1631, the royal armada set sail in the direction of Panama, carrying its multimillion [dollar] cargo of gold and silver. On one of the ships traveled the Jesuit procurators Fathers Alonso Messia and Hernando León Garavito, guarding the cases of powdered cinchona bark, prepared by Salumbrino. After almost 20 days of sailing, medicine arrived in the city of Panama, where it was transloaded onto mules. It then traveled the malarial isthmus as far as Portobelo, thence to Cartagena [in Colombia] and Havana. It then traveled to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Seville, [Spain]. […] Finally it followed the road to Rome and to its final destination, the Hospital of the Holy Spirit]
^Rocco F (2004).Quinine: malaria and the quest for a cure that changed the world. New York, NY: Perennial.
^Humphrey L (2000).Quinine and Quarantine. Columbia, Missouri: University of Missouri Press.
^De Jussieu accompanied de la Condamine on the latter's expedition to Peru:de Jussieu J (1737).Description de l'arbre à quinquina. Paris: Société du traitement des quinquinas (published 1934).
^Pelletier PJ, Caventou JB (1820)."Recherches Chimiques sur les Quinquinas" [Continuation: Chemical Research on Quinquinas].Annales de Chimie et de Physique (in French).15. Crochard:337–365.The authors name quinine on page 348:" …, nous avons cru devoir la nommerquinine, pour la distinguer de la cinchonine par un nom qui indique également son origine." […, we thought that we should name it "quinine" in order to distinguish it from cinchonine by means of a name that also indicates its origin.]
^Heaton LD, ed. (1963)."8".Preventive Medicine in World War II: Volume VI, Communicable Diseases: Malaria. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army. pp. 401 and 434.Archived from the original on 29 January 2012.
