Podophyllotoxin is a bioactive aryltetraline lignan obtained from roots of Podophyllum emodi Wall. P. emodi has significance in traditional medicine which possess cytotoxic and antitumor activities. Currently column chromatography is preferred method for isolation or purification of podophyllotoxin which is laborous and time consuming activity. The present research deals with the rapid and conv...

The natural lignan podophyllotoxin, a dimerized product of two phenylpropanoid moieties which occurs in a few plant species, is a pharmacologically important compound for its anticancer activities. Optimization of the in vitro cultures might lead to a renewable source of lignans for medicinal uses. In order to maximize efficiency of podophyllotoxin accumulation via in vitro cultures, the effect...

In the present study we have utilized the Allium cepa root tip meristem model to evaluate the cytotoxic and anti-mitotic activities of latex of Calotropis procera (DL) and podophyllotoxin. Standard cytotoxic drug cyclophosphamide and non-cytotoxic drugs cyprohcptadine and aspirin served as controls. Like cyclophosphamide, both DL and podophyllotoxin significantly inhibited the growth of roots a...

Podophyllotoxin, 10(-3) (M), inhibits the respiration in vitro of rat lymph nodes, thymus, kidney, tumor, spleen, liver, brain, testis, and chicken embryo. Lymph node and spleen respiration are most sensitive, and the degree of inhibition increases with time. The injection of podophyllotoxin into tumor-bearing mice (20 mg. per kg.) causes a dramatic reduction in the respiration of tumor slices....

Rehydration of powdered tissues of Podophyllum peltatum L. prior to extraction with an organic solvent allows endogenous beta-glucosidases to hydrolyze lignan 4-O-beta-D-glucosides in situ and increase the yield of podophyllotoxin. Aqueous extraction of rhizomes and leaves of P. peltatum yielded 4- to 10-fold greater quantities of podophyllotoxin than the traditional ethanolic extraction. Most ...

1. Girnita A, Girnita L, del Prete F, Bartolazzi A, Larsson O, Axelson M. Cyclolignans as inhibitors of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor and malignant cell growth. Cancer Res 2004;64:236–42. 2. Cortese F, Bhattacharyya B, Wolff J. Podophyllotoxin as a probe for the colchicine binding site of tubulin. J Biol Chem 1977;252:1134–40. 3. Gupta RS. Podophyllotoxin-resistant mutants of Chines...

The hydroalcoholic extract of the steam bark of B. fagaroides var. fagaroides displayed potent cytotoxic activity against four cancer cell lines, namely KB (ED50 = 9.6 × 10(-2) μg/mL), PC-3 (ED50 = 2.5 × 10(-1) μg/mL), MCF-7 (ED50 = 6.6 μg/mL), and HF-6 (ED50 = 7.1 × 10(-3) μg/mL). This extract also showed anti-tumour activity when assayed on mice inoculated with L5178Y lymphoma cells. Bioactiv...

GTP hydrolysis accompanies addition of tubulin to microtubules. I find that hydrolysis is a requirement for the opposite-end assembly/disassembly of microtubules and consequent subunit treadmilling from one end to the other of the polymer. Neither GDP nor guanosine 5'-[beta, gamma-imido]triphosphate allows or participates in the treadmilling reaction. Therefore, there is a requirement for hydro...

Human blood neutrophil granulocytes (neutrophils) treated with Podophyllum peltatum L.-derived compounds exhibited an enhanced oxidative response to subsequent challenge with bacterial formyl peptides. This priming effect was concerned with superoxide anion (O2-) release (respiratory burst). The phenomenon was observed with a potentized preparation containing, among other things, podophyllum ex...

Juniperus horizontalis Moench (Family Cupressaceae), commonly called creeping juniper, is a widely distributed species in the United States and much of Canada. It is potentially a source for two important chemical products, the anticancer drug synthetic precursor, podophyllotoxin and essential oils. The objectives of this study were to ascertain the likelihood of utilizing J. horizontalis needl...