Natural Product Research最新文献

Tofu has a high nutritional value, but it may also contain components that may have an antinutritional effect, such as trypsin inhibitors (TI), lectins and ureases. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of the hydrothermal-cooking process of soybean in combination with commercial chymosin-pepsin rennet on the content and activity of TI, urease and lectins in tofu. High total TI content was found in tofu (5.00-16.87%). In addition, Kunitz (KTI = 3.52-4.32%) and Bowman-Birk (BBI = 5.00-12.53%) TI were registered, and BBI was detected in polymeric (1.38-2.71%) and monomeric (3.42-9.82%) forms. TI activity of tofu was very low (5.86-9.34%), corresponding to the very low activity of urease (0.51-3.07%). The percentage of lectin (2.62-4.63%) and urease (0.03-0.12%) in tofu was low. The results showed that the applied tofu production process is very effective in reducing the content and activity of TI, urease and lectin and provides the values without nutritional harmful effect.

Owing to the challenges of antimicrobial resistance, investigations of new antibiotics from medicinal plants are continuously being conducted. Peperomia pellucida is a pantropical plant used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various disorders. From the ethanol extract of a whole P. pellucida plant, one previously undescribed carotane sesquiterpene (pellucarotine), one known carotane sesquiterpene (daucol), and one phenylpropanoid (dillapiol) were isolated and structurally elucidated. Their structures were determined based on 1D and 2D NMR, HR-ESI-Mass, experimental, and computational electronic circular dichroism spectroscopic data and compared with those reported in the literature. Antimicrobial assay results showed that pellucarotine had an anti-infective effect on Candida albicans with an MIC of 512 µg/mL.

One new lathyrane-type diterpenoid, euphlathin A (1), and 11 known analogues (2-12), were isolated from the fruits of Euphorbia lathyris. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data. The absolute configurations of 1 were established by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. All diterpenoids (1-12) were evaluated for antiproliferative activity against the human hypertrophic scar (HTS) cells. Compound 1 exhibited significantly against HTS cells growth with an IC₅₀ value of 6.33 μM. Morphological features of apoptosis were evaluated in 1-treated HTS cells. Wound healing assays indicated that 1 significantly inhibited the migration of HTS at 24 h and 48 h. Compound 1 effectively induced apoptosis of HTS, which was associated with G₂/M or S phase cell cycle arrest. Flow cytometric analysis showed that the treatment by 1 significantly induced HTS cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Overall, euphlathin A (1) has the potential to be a therapeutic agent for the treatment of hyperplastic scar therapy.

Artemisia annua is an essential aromatic medicinal plant endemic to China. Here, essential oil was extracted from wild A. annua from Ningxia, China. GC-MS analysis showed that A. annua essential oil was dominated by artemisia ketone, a characteristic compound accounting for 31.26%, followed by eucalyptol (14.89%), camphor (8.69%), myrcene (8.25%) and α-pinene (6.65%). The overall antioxidative potential represented by DPPH and ATBS free radical scavenging rates was weak. The essential oil exhibited good bactericidal activities against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and fungicidal activities against Trichophyton rubrum and Epidermophyton floccosum. The minimum inhibitory and microbicidal concentrations were 0.02 mg/mL and 5.12 mg/mL for both bacteria, 0.315% and 2.5% for E. floccosum, and 0.625% and 5% for T. rubrum. The results suggest that A. annua essential oil may be an antimicrobial adjuvant to be applied in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Phytochemical investigation on the bark of E. kingiana plant afforded ten compounds, including six polyketides namely kingianin A 1, kingianin B 2, kingianin E 3, kingianin F 4, kingianin K 5 and kingianin L 6, three endiandric acids; kingianic acid A 7, tsangibeilin B 8 and endiandric acid M 9, and one sesquiterpene; daibuoxide 10. All compounds were separated as racemic mixture by recycling high-performance liquid chromatography (RHPLC), except for daibuoxide. Their structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic and comparative literature data analysis. This is the first report on the presence of the sesquiterpene; daibuoxide in Endiandra genus. In vitro enzymatic bio-evaluation of the isolated compounds against α-amylase and α-glucosidase showed that 4 demonstrated the best α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC₅₀ values of 181.54 ± 6.27 µg/mL and 237.87 ± 0.07 µg/mL, respectively. In addition, molecular docking analysis confirmed the α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities demonstrated by 4.

An efficient column chromatography of the CH₂Cl₂/MeOH crude extract from the soft coral Litophyton mollis (Macfadyen, 1936) yielded seven steroids, including five 4α-methylated steroids (1-5) and two 19-oxygenated steroids (6-7). Notably, both compounds 3 and 7 are new, identified as (22E)-4α,24-dimethyl-5α-cholesta-22,24(28)-dien-3β,8β-diol (3) and (22E,24R)-7β-acetoxy-24-methyl-cholesta-5,22-dien-3β,19-diol (7). The chemical structures and relative configurations were elucidated through comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, including 1D and 2D NMR, as well as HRESIMS analysis. The cytotoxicity of metabolites 1-7 was evaluated against three cancer cell lines: MCF-7, HepG2, and NCI-1299. Remarkably, metabolites 6 and 7 exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against MCF-7, with IC₅₀ values of 8.6 and 8.4 μM, respectively, while also showing moderate effects against NCI-1299, with IC₅₀ values of 15.7 and 15.1 μM, respectively. Additionally, steroids 4 and 5 displayed weak cytotoxicity against all three cell lines, with IC₅₀ values in the ranges of 34.7-37.5 and 30.8-46.3 μM, respectively.

Three new eudesmane type rare sesquiterpene lactone galactosides, costunosides A-C (1-3) were isolated from the rhizomes of Aucklandia costus along with ten known compounds (4-13). Costunosides A-C (1-3) are the first example of naturally eudesmane glycosides containing a β-galactopyranoside moiety. The structure and relative configurations of these compounds were established by comprehensive analysis of MS and, in particular 1D/2D NMR spectroscopic data. The isolated compounds were tested against a panel of human cancer cell lines, where compounds 3, 6 and 7 have shown promising cytotoxic activity against PC-3, HCT-116 and A549 cell lines with IC₅₀ values in the range of 3.4 µM to 9.3 µM, respectively. Costunosides A-C (1-3) were also screened for inhibition assay of acetyl-cholinesterase (AChE), and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and found inactive at a concentration of 10 µM.

A member of the Moringaceae family, Moringa Oleifera Lam is a perennial deciduous tropical tree known as the 'Miracle Tree' for its medicinal and nutritional benefits. Food and nutrition are crucial aspects of the development and maintenance of healthy health. Moringa oleifera is a multi-purpose herbal bush that is used as both human food and a medical alternative all over the world. Various parts of the tree are used to treat chronic diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, inflammation, oxidative stress, diabetes, and cancer. Moringa is an excellent source of essential nutrients and has been found to have a significant impact on improving nutritional deficiencies in populations with limited access to food. Moringa oleifera contains essential amino acids, carotenoids, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, proteins, phytochemicals, vitamins, and fibre. Moringa offers nutritional and economic advantages, medicinal and therapeutic uses, and future biological potential for human well-being.

The chemical diversity from Biscogniauxia capnodes SWUF15-40 fungus, cultivated in yeast-malt extract medium was studied. The choice of medium was inspired by the OSMACs strategy, which had previously been cultivated in PDB medium. This resulted in an array of bioactive compounds being discovered. The IR, NMR, MS, and XRD data, together with the calculated ¹³C NMR chemical shifts and ECD spectra data were thoroughly analysed, which led to the determination of two new isopimarane (1 and 2), and three guaiane (3-5) derivatives, together with four known compounds (6-9). Cyclic pentapeptide (9) showed inhibitory activity against cancer cells (HeLa, HT-29, PC-3, and A549) proliferation and nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells with IC₅₀ values in the ranges of 11.38 - 17.87 µM, and 58.88 µg/mL, respectively. The results demonstrated that manipulating growth conditions can increase the possibility of discovering many more bioactive compounds in fungi.

American ginseng(Panax quinquefolius L.), a traditional herbal extensively utilised in China, exhibits both medicinal and food properties. Diverse processing American ginseng gain extensive utilisation in China. In this study, we used to UPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS to identify the compositions of diverse processed products of American ginseng, resulting in the identification of a total of 49 compounds. The utilisation of 18 of these ingredients enables the discrimination among diverse processed forms of American ginseng. The application of chemometric reveals notable disparities in the chemical compositions among various processed products. The result showed that chemical composition combined with chemometric is effectively and accurately to identify diverse American ginseng prepared products.