Three New Oleanane Saponins from Zanha africana
Three new saponins, zanhasaponins, A, B, and C, were isolated from the MeOH extract of the root bark of Zanha africana and were, respectively, identified by spectroscopic methods as 3-O-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl-2 beta,16 alpha-dihydroxyolean-12-ene-23,28- dioic acid 28-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->2)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranoside (1); 3-O-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl-2 beta,16 alpha-dihydroxyolean-12-ene- 23,28-dioic acid 28-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl(1-->2)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->2)-alpha-L- rhamnopyranoside (2); and 3-O-beta-D-glucuronopyranosyl-2 beta,16 alpha-dihydroxyolean-12-ene- 23,28-dioic acid 28-O-beta-D-xylopyranosyl(1-->3)-beta-D-xylopyranosyl (1-->2)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl(1-->2)-a…
Expanding the Therapeutic Spectrum of Artemisinin: Activity Against Infectious Diseases Beyond Malaria and Novel Pharmaceutical Developments
The interest of Western medicine in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as a source of drug leads/new drugs to treat diseases without available efficient therapies has been dramatically augmented in the last decades by the extensive work and the outstanding findings achieved within this kind of medicine. The practice of TCM over thousands of years has equipped scientists with substantial experience with hundreds of plants that led to the discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu), which is extracted from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. (qinghao). The unexpected success of artemisinin in combating malaria has drawn strong attention from the scientific community towards TCM. Artemisinin was d…
Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Unusual Lupane Saponins fromBupleurum fruticescens
Extracts from Bupleurum fruticescens were examined for oral and topical anti-inflammatory activities. The BuOH extract proved to be active against carrageenan and tetradecanoylphorbol acetate acute edemas and allowed the isolation of three saponins identified by spectroscopic techniques as 3 beta-O-(O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-O-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl- (1-->6)]-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl)lup-20(29)-ene-23,28-dioic acid (fruticesaponin A), 3 beta-O-(O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl) lup-20(29)-ene-23,28-dioic acid 28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (fruticesaponin B), and 3 beta-O-(O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-->4)-O-[beta-D-glucopyranosyl- (1-->6)]-O-beta-D-glucopy…
Production of rosmarinic acid and salvianolic acid B from callus culture of Salvia miltiorrhiza with cytotoxicity towards acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells.
Salvia miltiorrhiza (SM) Bunge is one of the widely-used Chinese medicinal herbs. In this study, the chemical constituents and anticancer potential of SM stems and leaves were examined with those of respective callus cultures. The callus culture for stem and leaf explants was initiated in modified Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Active constituents of respective extracts were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with DAD and MS (HPLC-DAD-MS). Rosmarinic acid (RA) and salvianolic acid B (Sal B) were determined to be the main phenolic compounds. Quantitative analyses revealed that callus stem extracts produced higher amount of RA and Sal B (stem RA: 1.27±0.38%; stem Sal…