BACKGROUND Prunus africana is used traditionally in many countries for the treatment of cancer and benign prostate hyperplasia. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, compounds from the leaves and bark of this plant were isolated and tested for their cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction in two human cancer cell lines (hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and colorectal carcinoma (Caco-2)) and a non...

Ilex asprella, a plant widely used as a folk herbal drug in southern China, produces and stores a large amount of triterpenoid saponins, most of which are of the α-amyrin type. In this study, two oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC) cDNAs, IaAS1 and IaAS2, were cloned from the I. asprella root. Functional characterisation was performed by heterologous expression in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. An...

The inflammatory reaction in large blood vessels involves up-regulation of vascular adhesion molecules such as endothelial cell selectin (E-selectin), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule (sVCAM)-1, and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1. These vascular dysfunctions are associated with the development of atherosclerosis. β-Amyrin, an active component of Euphorbia hirta L., has...

Sterols have important functions in membranes and signaling. Plant sterols are synthesized via the isoprenoid pathway by cyclization of 2,3-oxidosqualene to cycloartenol. Plants also convert 2,3-oxidosqualene to other sterol-like cyclization products, including the simple triterpene β-amyrin. The function of β-amyrin per se is unknown, but this molecule can serve as an intermediate in the synth...

Isolation and GC/MS quantitative determination of ursolic acid in the herb of Nepeta cataria var. citriodora have been performed. The content of this compound was in the range 0.95 ñ 1.30%. Daucosterol (βsitosterol 3-O-β-D-glucoside) was also isolated from the plant, in addition to small amounts of β-sitosterol, campesterol, α-amyrin and β-amyrin. The content and composition of essential oil in...

In addition to benjaminamide (2), β-amyrin, β-amyrin acetate, lupeol, betulinic acid, β-sitosterol glucoside, a new ceramide glycoside was isolated from the woods of Ficus lutea Vahl (Moraceae). Using mass fragmentation pattern, 1 and 2D NMR spectra and by comparison with published data, the new compound was characterized as 1-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(2S,3R,5E,12E)-2N-[(2'R)-hydroxyhexadecanoyl]-o...

Aralia elata is an important medicinal plant in China; it produces large amounts of oleanane type triterpene saponins. A full-length cDNA encoding β-amyrin synthase (designated as AeAS) was isolated from young leaves of A. elata by reverse transcription-PCR. The full-length cDNA of AeAS was found to have a 2292-bp open reading frame, encoding a protein with 763 amino acid residues. The ded...

Chagas’ disease is a parasitic disease with unsatisfactory treatment, mainly in chronic stage. This study aimed to evaluate the trypanocidal activity and action mechanisms of α/β-amyrin and its semisynthetic derivatives, together with four isolated natural triterpenes, tested against trypomastigote and amastigote forms. The structure-activity relationship was suggested and cytotoxicity was meas...

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is well known for its diverse pharmacological properties and has been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments. Although a variety of secondary metabolites with potent biological activities are identified, our understanding of the biosynthetic pathways that produce them has remained largely incomplete. We studied transcriptional ch...

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the chloroform extract of Byrsonima fagifolia leaves led to the isolation of active antitubercular compounds alkane dotriacontane (Minimal Inhibitory Concentration-MIC, 62.5 μg mL(-1)), triterpenoids as bassic acid (MIC = 2.5 μg mL(-1)), α-amyrin acetate (MIC = 62.5 μg mL(-1)), a mixture of lupeol, α- and β-amyrin (MIC = 31.5 μg mL(-1)) and a mixture of lupeol, ...