Cytotoxic effects of aporphine alkaloids from the stems and leaves of Y.C.Wu.

Phytochemical studies of the stems and leaves of Y.C.Wu yielded two new aporphine alkaloids ( and ), along with six known alkaloids (- and -).

Triterpene glycosides from the aerial parts of Elsholtzia penduliflora W. W. Smith and their cytotoxic activity.

Bio-guided fractionation of the 80% ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Elsholtzia penduliflora W. W. Smith (Lamiaceae) led to the isolation of seven new triterpene glycosides, i.

Green, Cost-Effective Simultaneous Assay of Chloramphenicol, Methylparaben, and Propylparaben in Eye-Drops by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis.

A green, cost-effective, and simple capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of chloramphenicol, methylparaben, and propylparaben in eye-drops. With sodium tetraborate as background electrolyte (BGE), the apparent mobilities of chloramphenicol, methylparaben, and propylparaben increased and analysis time reduced when pH of BGE increased from 8.5 to 10.

Poligapolide, a PI3K/Akt inhibitor in immunodeficiency virus type 1 TAT-transduced CHME5 cells, isolated from the rhizome of Polygala tenuifolia.

The rhizome of Polygala tenuifolia WILLD (PT, family Polygalaceae) has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for inflammation, dementia, amnesia, neurasthenia and cancer. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt inhibitor(s) was isolated from PT by using the cytoprotective phenotype of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat-transduced CHME5 cells against lipopolysaccharide/cycloheximide. We isolated 9 constituents (1)-(9) from ethyl acetate fraction of PT, which potently showed anti-cytoprotective effect against HIV-1 TAT-transduced cells.

Lancemaside A inhibits microglial activation via modulation of JNK signaling pathway.

Microglial activation plays an important role in neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, controlling microglial activation is considered to be a promising therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases. In the present study, we found that lancemaside A, a triterpenoid saponin isolated from Codonopsislanceolata, inhibited iNOS and proinflammatory cytokines in LPS-stimulated BV2 microglial cells.

Clionosterol and ethyl cholestan-22-enol isolated from the rhizome of Polygala tenuifolia inhibit phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt pathway.

Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt inhibitors were isolated from the rhizome of Polygala tenuifolia WILLD (PT, Polygalaceae), which has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for inflammation, dementia, amnesia, neurasthenia and cancer, by activity-guided fractionation. For the assay of PI3K/Akt pathway, cytoprotective Tat-transduced CHME5 cells, which are the cytoprotective phenotype against lypopolysaccharide (LPS)/cycloheximide (CHX), were used. We isolated 4 anti-cytoprotective compounds, clionasterol (1), ethyl cholestan-22-enol (2), 3-O-β-D-glucosyl ethyl cholestan-22-enol (3), and 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl clionasterol (4) from EtOAc fraction of PT against Tat-transduced CHME5 cells.

Antioxidant mechanism of isoflavone metabolites in hydrogen peroxide-stimulated rat primary astrocytes: critical role of hemeoxygenase-1 and NQO1 expression.

The brain is highly vulnerable to oxidative stress, thus controlling oxidative stress is considered to be an important therapeutic target for neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we found that two isoflavone metabolites (tectorigenin and glycitein) inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and subsequent cell death in rat primary astrocytes. The isoflavone metabolites increased the expression of phase II antioxidant enzymes, such as hemeoxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), and pre-treatment of cells with their specific inhibitors or small interfering RNA (siRNA) reversed the antioxidant and cytoprotective effects of isoflavones.

Oleanane-type triterpenoids from Aceriphyllum rossii and their cytotoxic activity.

The hexane-soluble fraction of the roots of Aceriphyllum rossii was used to isolate seven new oleanane-type triterpenoids, aceriphyllic acids C-I (1-7), together with seven known triterpenoids. The structures of aceriphyllic acids C-I were determined as 3alpha-hydroxyolean-12-en-23,29-dioic acid (1), 3beta-hydroxyolean-12-en-23,29-dioic acid (2), 3beta,23-dihydroxyolean-12-en-29-oic acid (3), 3alpha-O-acetylolean-12-en-23,27-dioic acid (4), 3alpha-O-caffeoylolean-12-en-27-oic acid (5), 3alpha-O-acetylolean-12-en-23,29-dioic acid (6), and 3alpha-hydroxyolean-12-en-23-al-27-oic acid (7) by spectroscopic analyses. In the evaluation of the in vitro cytotoxicity of these compounds against the MCF-7 and LLC cancer cell lines, compounds 10 and 13 exhibited cytotoxic activity against the LLC cancer cell line with IC(50) values of 7.