Cantharidin isolated from Mylabris caraganae and other insects has been used as an anti-cancer drug in China for many years. However, its toxicity on the renal system and suppression effect on bone marrow limits its usage clinically. Based on the core structure of cantharidin, we have chemically synthesized two cantharidin analogues (compounds 2 and 3). The cytotoxic activity of these analogues...

Cantharidin is a terpenoid isolated from Chinese blister beetles, and norcantharidin (NCTD) is a demethylated analog of cantharidin. It has been reported that cantharidin and norcantharidin have anticancer activities. Growing evidence suggests that inhibiting autophagy can induce apoptosis in the human hepatoma cell line HepG2. The objective of the present study was to determine whether inhibit...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of serine/threonine protein phosphatase (PP) inhibitors on morphine-induced antinociception in the tail flick test in mice, and on [3H]naloxone binding to the forebrain crude synaptosome fraction. Neither okadaic acid nor cantharidin (1-10000 nM) displaced [3H]naloxone from its specific binding sites, which indicates that they do not interact at...

We previously reported that serine/threonine protein phosphatases (PPs) play a role in the antinociception induced by the mu-opioid receptor agonist morphine. In this study we evaluated the possible involvement of PPs on the antinociception induced by agonists of others G protein-coupled receptors in the tail flick test in mice. The subcutaneous administration of clonidine (0.25-4 mg/kg), baclo...

beta-Adrenoceptor stimulation acts in the heart in part by increasing the phosphorylation state of phospholamban and phospholemman. There is evidence that the beta-adrenoceptor-mediated increase in phospholamban phosphorylation is in part due to inhibition of type 1 phosphatases. The aim of the present study was to elucidate which phosphatases dephosphorylate phospholamban and phospholemman in ...

BACKGROUND [corrected] Cantharidin, and its derivatives can not only inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells, but can also induce tumor cell apoptosis. It shows cantharidin exhibits a wide range of reactivity in anticancer. The objective of this paper was to study the inhibitory effect of sodium cantharidinate on human hepatoma HepG2 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS MTT assay was used to detect ...

Cantharidin, the well-known terpenoid compound from the blood of blister beetles (and active principle of Spanish fly), is a feeding deterrent to insects, effective at a concentration of 10(-5) molar.

Simon Bolivar, The Liberator, did not trust medical care and if he ever requested a doctor, it seems to have been mainly politically motivated. Unfortunately his fears seem to have been correct as his death was accelerated by Dr. Revenand, a man whose medical title is yet under discussion, who applied an extract of cantharides, a beetle known as "the Spanish fly", employed generally as an aphro...