Publications by authors named "Laura Torras-Claveria"

L. is a renowned plant genus with a notable center of diversity and is primarily located in the Mediterranean region. These plants are widely recognized for their ornamental value, owing to the beauty of their flowers; nonetheless, they also hold pharmacological importance.

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The genus Herb. is found in the Andes Region (South America), mainly in Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. These plants belong to the Amaryllidaceae family, specifically the Amaryllidoideae subfamily, which presents an exclusive group of alkaloids known as Amaryllidaceae alkaloids that show important structural diversity and pharmacological properties.

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Rationale: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the most frequently applied technique for analyzing Amaryllidaceae alkaloids in plant extracts. Having these compounds, known for their potent bioactivities, is a distinctive chemotaxonomic feature of the Amaryllidoideae subfamily (Amaryllidaceae). The Amaryllidaceae alkaloids of homolycorine type with a C3-C4 double bond generally show molecular and diagnostic ions at the high-mass region with low intensity in the EIMS mode, leading to problematic identification in complex plant extracts.

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Amaryllidaceae alkaloids are secondary metabolites with interesting medicinal properties. Almost every species can synthesize them and constitute an excellent source for their isolation and study. Several Amaryllidaceae alkaloids have shown acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities and are a promising tool for treating cholinergic disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD).

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Plant biodiversity is an important source of compounds with medicinal properties. The alkaloid galanthamine, first isolated from (Amaryllidaceae), is approved by the FDA for the palliative treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease due to its acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity. Obtaining this active pharmaceutical ingredient, still sourced on an industrial scale from the Amaryllidaceae species, is a challenge for pharmaceutical companies due to its low natural yield and the high cost of its synthesis.

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Hyoscyamine (HYO) and scopolamine (SCO) are tropane alkaloids acting as anticholinergic factors on the parasympathetic nervous system in humans and are produced by Solanaceous plants. Two strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes, A4 and LBA9402, were used to infect Atropa acuminata Royle ex Miers and Atropa belladonna L. leaf explants.

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The Libellus de Medicinalibus Indorum Herbis (Booklet of Indian Medicinal Plants) is the first book of medicinal plants written in the American continent. It was first published in 1939 as 'An Aztec Herbal'. One of the depicted plants is Huetzcanixochitl (laughing flower) interpreted as Zephyranthes fosteri (Amaryllidaceae).

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The search for novel bioactive compounds and the identification of known ones in the plant kingdom are a challenge for the scientists working in different fields of plant science. In the recent years, mass spectrometry is the most frequently applied method for analysis of complex mixtures of plant metabolites. Twenty-two alkaloids of different lycorine skeleton subtypes (with a Δ double bond, with a Δ double bond, with saturated rings C and D, and with aromatic ring C) were subjected to separation with gas chromatography and studied with electron impact mass spectrometry including single quadropole (GC-EIMS), tandem mass (GC-EIMS/MS) and high resolution mass (EI-HRMS) detectors in order to determine their fragmentation pattern.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Chagas disease, caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, affects about 7 million people and requires new treatments as existing drugs have significant side effects and work poorly in chronic cases.
  • - The study tested nine natural alkaloids from the Amaryllidaceae plant family for their ability to inhibit T. cruzi, using specific assays to ensure they were not harmful to host cells.
  • - The researchers discovered that hippeastrine was particularly effective against T. cruzi, showing selective anti-parasitic activity without toxicity to the host cells, indicating its potential for drug development.
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Natural products play an important role in the development of new drugs. In this context, the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids have attracted considerable attention in view of their unique structural features and various biological activities. In this study, twenty-three alkaloids were identified from by GC-MS and two new structures (augustine -oxide and buphanisine -oxide) were structurally elucidated by NMR.

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Polyamines conjugated with hydroxycinnamic acids are phenolic compounds, which are widespread in the plant kingdom playing important roles in development and defence responses. This chapter describes the methodology employed to analyze these phenolamides in plant material by liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). These compounds are not always in sufficient concentration in plant tissues for analysis by more conventional methods such as UV detection of HPLC.

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The extracts of 14 Julianaceae and 5 Clusiaceae species growing in Mexico were tested in vitro (50 µg/mL) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv and HIV reverse transcriptase (HIV-RT). The Julianaceae bark and leaf extracts inhibited M. tuberculosis (>84.

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The genus Lycoris, a group of Amaryllidaceae plants distributed in temperate regions of Eastern Asia, is already known for containing representative alkaloids typical of this botanical family with a wide range of biological activities (for example, lycorine and galanthamine). In the present work, the alkaloid profiles of nine species, L. albiflora, L.

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Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. (Lamiaceae) is an aromatic and perennial herb endemic to Iran with interesting pharmacological and biological properties. The flavonoids luteolin-7-O-glucoside, apigenin-7-O-glucoside (cosmosiin), luteolin 3'-O-β-d-glucuronide, luteolin, apigenin, cirsimaritin, isokaempferide, penduletin, xanthomicrol, calycopterin and the polyphenol rosmarinic acid were identified among 13 natural populations of the plant by ESI-MS, LC-DAD and LC-DAD-ESI-MS.

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The influence of different elicitors (copper sulfate, silver nitrate, salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate), on both the growth and alkaloid production of Leucojum aestivum shoots grown in a temporary immersion system was studied. Seven Amaryllidaceae alkaloids and three protoalkaloids were quantitatively determined by GC-MS analysis in leaves and bulblets, separately. Methyl jasmonate was found to significantly improve the production of galanthamine (GAL) in both leaves and bulblets.

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Plants of the Amaryllidaceae family are a well-known source of tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloids with a wide range of biological activities, including antiviral, antitumoral, antiparasitic, psychopharmacological, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory, among others. Recent advances in the use of GC or LC coupled to MS have allowed a chemically guided isolation of uncommon and bioactive alkaloids. In the present work, analytical methods were applied to study the alkaloid profile of Narcissus broussonetii, a plant endemic to North Africa.

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Evaluation of a significant part of the phenylpropanoid pathway metabolites is facilitated by the fast high-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analytical method. The technology described was applied in tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv.

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Introduction: Pancratium canariense Ker Gawler is a plant species belonging to family Amaryllidaceae. Plants from this family are known to synthesise a particular type of bioactive compounds, named Amaryllidaceae alkaloids, which have shown AChE inhibitory activity.

Objective: To perform the metabolite profiling of methanolic extracts from P.

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The phenolic content of lavandin waste obtained after the distillation of essential oils for the perfume industry was investigated to find an alternative use for this material. The antioxidant activity of different fractions as well as their total phenolic content were evaluated by different methods. Twenty-three phenolic compounds were identified by liquid chromatography coupled to ionspray mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), including phenolic acids, hydroxycinnamoylquinic acid derivatives, glucosides of hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonoids, none of which have previously been reported in lavandin waste.

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