Records of Natural Products

 A new diterpenoid, namely millipedine A (10), along with nine known compounds (1–9), were isolated from the methanol extract of Millipede. Their structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic analysis including one and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy and comparison with previously reported data. New compound showed moderate cytotoxicity against A549, HCT-116, and SW1990 cell lines in MTT assay.

Eleven chemical constituents, including one new limonoid trichilinin G (1), were identified from the fruit extracts of M. azedarach. The structure of 1 was established by various spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses. Among the eleven isolated compounds, trichilinin G (1) and meliatoxin B1 (2) were examined for their antifungal activity against Fusarium oxysporum, Magnaporthe grisea, Phytophthora spp. (PS), and P. capsici (PC). Limonoid 2 showed the best antifungal activity against PS (IC50 = 103.8 µg/mL) and PC (IC50 < 62.5 µg/mL) in a dose-dependent manner. While limonoid 1 exhibited a weak to moderate activity against these Phytophthora species, F. oxysporum and M. grisea were less sensitive to the two compounds tested. The inhibitory effects of trichilinin G on superoxide anion generation and elastase release by human neutrophils were also assessed in cellular model and did not show significant activity.

Phytochemical investigation of the fruits of Rosa roxburghii resulted in the isolation of four organic acid derivatives and three phenylpropanoids, including a new organic acid derivative, Roxbuacidester A (1) and six known compounds (2-7). The structures of all isolates were established by 1D and 2D NMR spectra referring to the literatures, together with HR-MS spectrometric analysis. In addition, compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for their inhibitory activities on nitric oxide (NO) production stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a RAW 264.7 cell line. Compounds 1 and 2 showed moderate inhibition of NO production with IC50 values of 46.8 ± 2.3 and 62.5 ± 3.7 μM, respectively.

Obesity is a major risk factor in many health problems. This study explored the anti-obesity and antihyperlipidemic effects of Musa cavendishii Lamb. leaves. Doses of 1200 mg/kg of M. cavendishii methanol extract, or 300 mg/kg of fractions, were given to C57BL/6J mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) for 7 weeks. The reduction in fat volume was determined using CT scan and histopathological examination of mice livers. The results showed that the n-hexane and the EtOAc fractions reduced the body fat volume to 2.0% and 2.2% respectively, compared to 20.1% in the HFD group. Also, treated groups showed almost normal liver architecture with no fat vacuoles compared to the HFD group. Moreover, the treated groups showed a reduction in the levels of some obesity-related biochemical parameters, including plasma glucose, cholesterol, and triglycerides levels. Chromatographic fractionation of the bioactive n-hexane extract afforded four known compounds viz., palmitic acid (1), 5-methyl-5-(4,8,12-trimethyl-tridecyl)-dihydro-furan-2-one (2), cycloeucalenol (3), and stigmasterol (4). These compounds were in vitro and in silico studied for their pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibition. Compound 2 showed remarkable PL inhibition (89.8%) compared to orlistat (85.0%) at 200 µM, which was in full agreement with the docking scores (-7.19 and -4.05, respectively).