Antibacterial mode of action of Cudrania tricuspidata fruit essential oil, affecting membrane permeability and surface characteristics of food-borne pathogens

Infections with protozoan parasites are a major cause of disease and mortality in many tropical countries of the world. Diseases caused by species of the genera Trypanosoma (Human African Trypanosomiasis and Chagas Disease) and Leishmania (various forms of Leishmaniasis) are among the seventeen "Neglected Tropical Diseases" (NTDs) defined by the WHO. Furthermore, malaria (caused by various Plasmodium species) can be considered a neglected disease in certain countries and with regard to availability and affordability of the antimalarials. Living organisms, especially plants, provide an innumerable number of molecules with potential for the treatment of many serious diseases. The current review attempts to give an overview on the potential of such plant-derived natural products as antiprotozoal leads and/or drugs in the fight against NTDs. In part I, a general description of the diseases, the current state of therapy and need for new therapeuticals, assay methods and strategies applied in the search for new plant derived natural products against these diseases and an overview on natural products of terpenoid origin with antiprotozoal potential were given. The present part II compiles the current knowledge on natural products with antiprotozoal activity that are derived from the shikimate pathway (lignans, coumarins, caffeic acid derivatives), quinones of various structural classes, compounds formed via the polyketide pathways (flavonoids and related compounds, chromenes and related benzopyrans and benzofurans, xanthones, acetogenins from Annonaceae and polyacetylenes) as well as the diverse classes of alkaloids. In total, both parts compile the literature on almost 900 different plant-derived natural products and their activity data, taken from over 800 references. These data, as the result of enormous efforts of numerous research groups world-wide, illustrate that plant secondary metabolites represent an immensely rich source of chemical diversity with an extremely high potential to yield a wealth of lead structures towards new therapies for NTDs. Only a small percentage, however, of the roughly 200,000 plant species on earth have been studied chemically and only a small percentage of these plants or their constituents has been investigated for antiprotozoal activity. The repository of plant-derived natural products hence deserves to be investigated even more intensely than it has been up to present.

The Potential of Secondary Metabolites from Plants as Drugs or Leads Against Protozoan Neglected Diseases – Part I

Antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of xanthones from Cudrania tricuspidata.

Anti-atherosclerotic and anti-inflammatory activities of catecholic xanthones and flavonoids isolated from Cudrania tricuspidata

Green tea has been reported to show anti-inflammatory properties because of its inhibitory effects on the expression of several pro-inflammatory genes. Because the inducible nitricoxide synthase (iNOS) plays an important role in chronic inflammatory diseases, we have focused our attention on the regulation of iNOS expression by green tea in two different human epithelial cell lines, alveolar A549/8 and colon DLD-1 cells. With the use of electrophoretic mobility shift assays, we found a green tea-mediated down-regulation of the DNA binding activity of the transcription factor signal transducer and activator of transcription-1α (STAT-1α), but not of nuclear factor-κB. This down-regulation of the STAT-1α DNA binding was shown to result from reduced tyrosine phosphorylation of the STAT-1α protein and not from antioxidative effects of the green tea extract. Green tea extract inhibited human iNOS expression in a concentration-dependent manner, quantified in terms of iNOS mRNA, iNOS protein, and nitric oxide production in both cell lines. This inhibitory effect of green tea resulted from transcriptional inhibition as shown in reporter gene experiments. These data suggest that green tea extracts may be promising at least as an auxiliary anti-inflammatory principle in chronic inflammatory diseases.

Green Tea Inhibits Human Inducible Nitric-Oxide Synthase Expression by Down-Regulating Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription-1α Activation

Effects of Cudrania tricuspidata water extract on blood pressure and renal functions in NO-dependent hypertension.

Four lavandulyl flavanones, (2S)-2′-methoxykurarinone (1), sophoraflavanone G (2), leachianone A (3), and (−)-kurarinone (4), which are isolated from the roots of Sophora flavescens have been tested for in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum. Compounds 1—3 showed moderate antimalarial activities with EC50 values of 2.4×10−6, 2.6×10−6, and 2.1×10−6 M, respectively. These compounds did not show selective toxicity against P. falciparum in the toxicity test on mouse mammalian tumor cells, however, it is suggested that the position of methoxyl groups in flavanone skeleton plays an important role on antimalarial activity.

Antimalarial Activity of Lavandulyl Flavanones Isolated from the Roots of Sophora flavescens

Objectives : Diabetes mellitus is the leading cause for vascular complications such as atherosclerosis. The present study is to investigate whether Doinseunggi-tang (DST) improves diabetic vascular dysfunction in type II diabetes. Methods : The db/db mice were treated with high fat/high cholesterol diet and DST (200 mg/kg/day) for 8 weeks. Results : DST significantly lowered blood glucose and systolic blood pressure. In addition, DST also markedly decreased total plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL-cholesterol, whereas increased the HDL-cholesterol. Vascular relaxation of aortic rings by acetylcholine or SNP was ameliorated by DST in a dose-dependent manner. Damage of vascular intima and hypertrophic of media was improved by DST. Immunohistological study revealed that DST attenuated the increase of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and ET-1 expression in thoracic aorta. ⓒ 2013 The Korean Medicine Society For The Herbal Formula StudyThis is an open access journal which permits unresticted access via the internet (URL, http://www.ompak.okdanche.com.) non-commercial use, distribution, reproduction and providing the original work is properly cited.

/pdf/therapeutic-effect-of-doinseunggi-tang-on-diabetic-vascular-3uoogazv8c.pdf

Geon Mok Lee

Papers

Effects of Cudrania tricuspidata water extract on blood pressure and renal functions in NO-dependent hypertension.

Antimalarial Activity of Lavandulyl Flavanones Isolated from the Roots of Sophora flavescens

Therapeutic Effect of Doinseunggi-tang on Diabetic Vascular Dysfunction