Marjoram is a perennial herb in the mint family that grows wild in the Mediterranean region. It is used primarily as seasoning in cooked dishes but is also found in beauty and health care products. Often mistaken for oregano, marjoram is frequently called by many different names, including sweet marjoram, knotted marjoram, joy of the mountains, and wintersweet.
The structure of paclitaxel, a widely used mitotic inhibitor. A mitotic inhibitor is a drug that inhibits mitosis, or cell division. These drugs disrupt microtubules, which are structures that pull the cell apart when it divides. Mitotic inhibitors are used in cancer treatment, because cancer cells are able to grow and eventually spread through the body (metastasize) through continuous mitotic division.
Mitotic inhibitors interfere with the assembly and disassembly of tubulin into microtubule polymers. This interrupts cell division, usually during the mitosis (M) phase of the cell cycle when two sets of fully formed chromosomes are supposed to separate into daughter cells. Examples of mitotic inhibitors frequently used in the treatment of cancer include paclitaxel, docetaxel, vinblastine, vincristine, and vinorelbine. Colchicine and griseofulvin are mitotic inhibitors used in the treatment of gout and toenail fungus, respectively.