Records of Natural Products Articles

Olea europea L. emerged as a good source of traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments of various countries of the world, in particular Mediterranean countries. In this study, oleuropein (1), oleanolic acid (2), maslinic acid (3), a mixture of erythrodiol and uvaol (4 and 5) isolated from the leaves of olive were added at two concentrations (1g/100g feed and 4g/100 g feed) into fish feed. Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia) were fed twice a day with the feed during 96 hours. The levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzymes and glucose levels in the serums of fishes fed with pure compounds were found to be higher as compared with the control group. Pure metabolites affect the liver metabolism of Nile tilapia. These results suggested that the compounds tested affect the liver metabolism of Nile tilapia. Compounds 1, 2, 3 and 4+5 (2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 mg/Petri dish concentrations) were also tested for contact toxic effects against three important stored pests, Sitophilus granarius (weevil), Tribolium confusum (confused flour beetle) and Acanthoscelides obtectus (bean weevil). The toxic effects of the metabolites were lower than those of the insecticide, dichlorvos (DDVP). DDVP caused complete mortality of the insects after 48 hours of treatments, the metabolites caused the mortality rates 16.7-63.3 %, 13.3-67.0 % and 26.7-59.0 % of S. granarius, T. confusum and A. obtectus, respectively. Maslinic acid (3) has the most toxic compound with the lowest LC 50 values (0.66 mg/Petri, 0.61 mg/Petri and 1.71 mg/Petri for S. granarius, T. confusum and A. obtectus, respectively). These results show that maslinic acid (3) as well as other substances can be used as natural insecticides against these pests.

Two new aspinotriol derivatives (1-2) determined as melleusin A (1), B (2) and other seven known compounds were isolated from a soil-borne fungus Aspergillus melleus. The configurations of 1, and 2 were determined by their analogues, aspilactonol B, C isolated previous in Aspergillus. Mellein (8) showed broad antibiotic activity against the test pathogens. Aspinonene, aspinotriols A and B can be used as the marker molecule in chemotaxonomy of Aspergillus.

Purple nutsedge, Cyperus rotundus L. (Cyperaceae) is an invasive plant grown in all around the world. C. rotundus rhizomes are called “topalak” and an analgesic plant for the treatment of stomach ache in infants, folk medicine in Turkey. The volatile compounds of C. rotundus rhizomes were investigated by Headspace-SPME. Cyperene (30.5% and 28.0%), α-copaene (10.6% and12%) and α-ylangene (7.7% and10.5%) were identified as main volatile components of rhizomes and analyzed at room temperature and 40ºC respectively. This study designed to support detailed studies on underground plant parts volatiles and it is the first time to identification of volatile compounds of raw C. rotundus rhizomes collected from Turkey by Headspace-SPME and GC and GC-MS.

The present study was carried out to evaluate an alternative controlling agent for greenhouse pests and the yellow fever mosquito larvae. The potential bioactivity of Licaria puchury-major (Mart.) Kosterm. (“puxuri”) was evaluated here against three most common pests in tropical and subtropical countries: Aedes aegypti Linn. Larvae, Tetranychus urticae Koch. mites and Cerataphis lataniae Boisd. aphids. The essential oil from seeds was analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The major compounds were safrole (38.8%) and eucalyptol (21.7%). Phenylpropanes (51.7%) was the main group of compounds and oxygenated monoterpenes represented 28.8% of the total oil. The essential oil has shown no inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in the tested concentrations. However, potential antioxidant activities were evaluated by different methods [DPPH: LD 50 = (27.8 ± 1.0) µg/.mL; ABTS: (977.3 ± 25.2) µM TEs/g (Trolox Equivalents); FRAP: (548.2 ± 29.0) µM Fe(II)/g]. A significant larvicidal potential for 24 h of exposure was observed with LD 50 = 98.9 µg/mL, being an indicative that the larval mortality may occur by ingestion or contact due to the no inhibition against AChE. Volatile phase effects were evaluated against T. urticae Koch. and C. lataniae Boisd. and LD 50 were found about 30.8 and 13.5 µg/mL , respectively. These results are consistent with an octopaminergic effect , since some phenylpropanoids (such as Safrole, identified as the major compound in this work) can block octopamine, a multi-functional, naturally occurring biogenic amine. Then, this study clearly illustrated the efficacy of the investigated seeds, which encourages the development of a new potential natural controlling agent against these common pests due to the abundance of these seeds in the Amazon region and to the high essential oil yield .

Traditional Chinese herbal medicines (TCHMs) have been used to treat diseases for thousands of years because of high therapeutic performance and low toxicity. To mine for new natural sources of antioxidants, 93 TCHMs were screened for activity, based on classical antioxidant capacity assays. Substantial d ifference s in antioxidant capacity were coupled with phenolic and flavonoid content for each of the examined species. Species that exhibited both high antioxidant capacity and specialized-phytochemical content included: Angelica dahurica ,Atractylodes macrocephala , Paeonia lactiflora , Paeonia suffruticosa and Perilla frutescens . These species have been identified as promising sources for natural antioxidants.

This study investigated the quantitative and qualitative effects of climate and soil properties on essential oil content and composition of Cirsium arvense L. (Asteraceae), which is an important medicinal plant. Root, stem, and leaf tissues were collected from plants found in four regions (Shahrekord, Farsan, Chelgerd and Ardal) of the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran. GC/MS analysis revealed that the main constituents of essential oils from the various populations were nonadecane, β-citronellol, camphor, heneicosane and phytol. The highest levels of nonadecane (40.1-42%) and camphor (18.1-18.4%) were obtained from roots collected from the Chelgerd region, the most levels of β-citronellol (24.9-25.01%) were obtained from leaves from the Chelgerd region, and the most levels of heneicosane (14.4-15.6%) and phytol (11.8-12.58%) were obtained from stems from the Shahrekord region. The most amount of essential oil (0.34-0.33%) was obtained from roots growing in clay soil in the Chelgerd region. Both climate and soil properties had significant effects on the essential oil of C. arvense. The highestt essential oil contents were obtained from plants growing in clay soil, which seemed to have a greater capacity to hold water and nutrients, both of which promote plant growth and essential oil production.

Taurochenodeoxycholic acid (TCDCA) is one of main bioactive substances of animals’ bile acid and confers good anti-inflammatory activity. This study aimed to investigate the mechanism of the anti-adjuvant arthritis activity of TCDCA, the actions were observed in vitro on the protein and mRNA expression of cytokines, the activity of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and its inhibitory IκBα protein level of peritoneal macrophages (PMs) in adjuvant arthritis (AA) rats. In a definite concentration ranging from 150 μg/mL to 200 μg/mL, the over protein and mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 were remarkably suppressed in the supernatant of PMs treatment with TCDCA. Positive correlations were found between changes of NF-κB activity and expression of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 influenced by TCDCA. The activity of NF-κB was markedly inhibited and IκBα protein level was increased by TCDCA (150 μg/mL,180 μg/mL and 200 μg/mL). TCDCA suppresses the protein and mRNA expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 by inhibiting the NF-κB binding activity, which is mediated through up-regulating the IκBα expression of PMs in AA rats.

Inula species are medicinal and aromatic plants used for folk medicine extensively. In this work, hydrodistilled essential oil of Inula graveolens (Linnaeus) Desf. analyzed by GC-MS which revealed that bornyl acetate was the major product (69.15%). Camphene was the second major compound (11.11%). Antiproliferative activity of the essential oil and bornyl acetate was investigated on HeLa (human cervix carcinoma), HT29 (human colon carcinoma) , A549 (human lung carcinoma), MCF7 ( human breast adenocarcinoma) cancer cells and FL (human amnion cells) normal cells. The cytotoxicity was executed by a Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) Cytotoxicity Detection Kit. Essential oil and bornyl acetate displayed the outstanding activities on HeLa (IC 50, 64.1, 72.0 µg/mL), HT29 (IC 50, 24.6, 60.5 µg/mL), A549 (IC 50, 28.3, 44.1 µg/mL), MCF-7 (IC 50, 66.5, 85.6 µg/mL), and FL (IC 50, 42.1, 50.6 µg/mL) cell lines respectively.

In the present study, 48 hydrolysable tannins and 12 polyhydroxytriterpenoid derivatives were isolated from Terminalia chebula fruit and assessed for their inhibitory activities on cholinesterases in vitro. Among them, phyllanemblinin F (compound 35), chebulanin (36), 23-Galloyl arjunolic acid (55), and Arjunetin (=24-deoxy sericoside) (56) showed strong inhibition against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) with IC 50 values of 24.02, 21.36, 67.25, and 47.85 μM, respectively. Though corilagin (15) and several gallotannins (8, 12, 14) exhibited weak inhibitory activity against butyrylcholinesterase, the majority of compounds from T. chebula showed inhibition of AChE. Since cognitive dysfunction is closely related to diminution of cholinergic transmission, our results suggest that compounds from T. chebula could be used as potential treatment for dementia.

The essential oil of the aerial parts of Anthriscus caucalis M.Bieb was obtained by hydrodistillation and its components were analy z ed by using GC and GC-MS. Forty-six compounds representing 97.2% of the total oil were identified. The main constituents in the oil were identified as β-Bisabolene (28.4%), Germacrene D (18.9%), (Z, E)-α-Farnesene (16.8%) and γ-Muurolene (7.3%). I n vitro cytotoxicity evaluation against two cell lines of HepG2 (liver hepatocellular cells) and MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) cells showed a potent cytotoxic activity with the IC 50 values of 67.50 μg/mL and 55.83 μg/mL according to the MTT assay. Furthermore, t he essential oil exhibited a considerable activity against Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli with the MIC values of 0.095 mg/mL and 0.105 mg/mL tested by micro-dilution method . The antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH and FRAP methods, and the essential oil gave an IC 50 value of 0.451 mg/mL and a Trolox equivalent antioxidant concentration of 191.7 ± 11.3 μmol Trolox × g -1 in DPPH and FRAP, respectively. The results indicated that the essential oil was relatively active and may be useful in food and pharmaceuticals after more detailed study.