The effects of some coumarins (coumarin, 7-hydroxycoumarin, scopoletin and esculetin) were investigated on pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima Duch.) seedlings and on pumpkin glutathione S-transferases (GSTs). Coumarin and esculetin suppressed the growth of seedlings, especially the elongation of roots as well as hypocotyls. Among the compounds tested, only esculetin inhibited the activity of a particula...

Naturally occurring coumarin compounds have received substantial attention due to their pharmaceutical effects. Esculetin is a coumarin derivative and a polyphenol compound that is used in a variety of therapeutic and pharmacological strategies. However, its effect on aldose reductase activity remains poorly understood. In this study, the potential beneficialeffects of esculetin on lenticular a...

BACKGROUND Coumarins are a major group of plant secondary metabolites that serves as defense compounds against pathogens. Although coumarins can be obtained from diverse plant sources, the use of microorganisms to synthesize them could be an alternative way to supply building blocks for the synthesis of diverse coumarin derivatives. RESULTS Constructs harboring two genes, F6'H (encoding ferul...

To determine the possible role of cyclooxygenase/lipoxygenase pathway in the regulation of proenkephalin (proENK) and prodynorphin (proDYN) gene expression induced by kainic acid (KA) in rat hippocampus, the effects of esculetin, aspirin, or phenidone on the seizure activity, proENK and proDYN mRNA levels, and the level of fos-related antigene (Fra) protein induced by KA in rat hippocampus were...

Objective: AML alone accounts for 20% cases of acute leukemia in children and 80% cases in adults. Among many genetic alterations, the most frequently reported translocation is between chromosomes 8 and 21, t(8; 21) or AML1-ETO. In the past decade, the anti– proliferative effect of various natural compounds including esculetin (a coumarin), has been reported in several leukemic cell lines. We h...

Coumarins belong to a diverse group of naturally occurring non-nutrient phytochemicals known as benzo-alpha-pyrones. In this study, esculetin, a 6,7-dihydroxy derivative of coumarin with pleiotropic biological activities, was found to have no significant cytotoxic effect on normal murine macrophages, but it could increase the in vivo migration of the thioglycollate-elicited macrophages in a dos...

Understanding the interaction of small molecules with DNA has become an active research area at the interface between chemistry, molecular biology and medicine. Plant derived polyphenols possess diverse biological and pharmacological properties. Esculetin is a coumarin derivative polyphenolic compound having diverse pharmacological and therapeutic properties. However, its mode of interaction wi...

In this study, we developed a method to quantify esculetin (6,7-dihydroxycoumarin) in plasma and tissues using HPLC coupled with ultraviolet detection and measured the level of esculetin in rat plasma after oral administration. The calibration curve for esculetin was linear in the range of 4.8 ng/mL to 476.2 ng/mL, with a correlation coefficient (r(2)) of 0.996, a limit of detection value of 33...

The study of the ˙OOH, ˙OOCH3 and ˙OOCHCH2 radicals scavenging processes by esculetin (ES) was carried out in aqueous and lipid media, using the density functional theory. Three reaction mechanisms were considered: single electron transfer (SET), hydrogen transfer (HT) and radical adduct formation (RAF). Rate constants and branching ratios for the different paths are reported. It was found that...

Linoleic acid hydroperoxide (LOOH) has been reported to cause an increase in the content of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG), a typical oxidation product of DNA bases, in cultured cells due to coexisting iron(III) ion. We examined whether coumarins are able to suppress the formation of 8-oxodG in the DNA of human diploid fibroblasts, TIG-7 cells, treated with LOOH and iron(III) ion...