There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Chem. Pharm. Bull.(オピニオン)

Epidemiological studies have revealed that a diet rich in plant-derived foods has a protective effect on human health. Identifying bioactive dietary constituents is an active area of scientific investigation that may lead to new drug discovery. Kaempferol (3,5,7-trihydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one) is a flavonoid found in many edible plants (e.g. tea, broccoli, cabbage, kale, beans, endive, leek, tomato, strawberries and grapes) and in plants or botanical products commonly used in traditional medicine (e.g. Ginkgo biloba, Tilia spp, Equisetum spp, Moringa oleifera, Sophora japonica and propolis). Some epidemiological studies have found a positive association between the consumption of foods containing kaempferol and a reduced risk of developing several disorders such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Numerous preclinical studies have shown that kaempferol and some glycosides of kaempferol have a wide range of pharmacological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, antidiabetic, anti-osteoporotic, estrogenic/antiestrogenic, anxiolytic, analgesic and antiallergic activities. In this article, the distribution of kaempferol in the plant kingdom and its pharmacological properties are reviewed. The pharmacokinetics (e.g. oral bioavailability, metabolism, plasma levels) and safety of kaempferol are also analyzed. This information may help understand the health benefits of kaempferol-containing plants and may contribute to develop this flavonoid as a possible agent for the prevention and treatment of some diseases.

A review on the dietary flavonoid kaempferol.

Several hundred plant and herb species that have potential as novel antiviral agents have been studied, with surprisingly little overlap. A wide variety of active phytochemicals, including the flavonoids, terpenoids, lignans, sulphides, polyphenolics, coumarins, saponins, furyl compounds, alkaloids, polyines, thiophenes, proteins and peptides have been identified. Some volatile essential oils of commonly used culinary herbs, spices and herbal teas have also exhibited a high level of antiviral activity. However, given the few classes of compounds investigated, most of the pharmacopoeia of compounds in medicinal plants with antiviral activity is still not known. Several of these phytochemicals have complementary and overlapping mechanisms of action, including antiviral effects by either inhibiting the formation of viral DNA or RNA or inhibiting the activity of viral reproduction. Assay methods to determine antiviral activity include multiple-arm trials, randomized crossover studies, and more compromised designs such as nonrandomized crossovers and pre- and post-treatment analyses. Methods are needed to link antiviral efficacy/potency- and laboratory-based research. Nevertheless, the relative success achieved recently using medicinal plant/herb extracts of various species that are capable of acting therapeutically in various viral infections has raised optimism about the future of phyto-antiviral agents. As this review illustrates, there are innumerable potentially useful medicinal plants and herbs waiting to be evaluated and exploited for therapeutic applications against genetically and functionally diverse viruses families such as Retroviridae, Hepadnaviridae and Herpesviridae

Novel antiviral agents: a medicinal plant perspective

The drug discovery for chemoprevention and chemotherapy remains a challenge. Natural products-derived extracts and compounds are frequently reported to discover therapeutic agents for disease and cancer.

The overall scenario of this special issue of The Scientific World Journal presents the recent advances in biological function of selected natural products for cancer and disease therapy in terms of crude extracts and components. Some studies describe the bioinformatics tool to help to investigate the field of natural products.

The papers by S. Guleria et al. and C.-C. Lee et al. provide the essential oil and/or extracts of herb Zanthoxylum alatum and Zingiber officinale for its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, respectively. O. O. Igbinosa et al. and C.-C. Lee et al. provide the animal experiments using extractsfrom Jatropha curcas (Linn) leaf and from supercritical carbon dioxide extracted ginger, respectively. Three studies (F. M. Al-Jasass and M. S. Al-Jasser, X.-W. Chen et al., and C.-Y. Lo et al.) focus on biological functions of the compounds from Saudi Arabia herbs, Chinese herb Huang Lian (Rhizoma coptidis), and from Alpinia galangal, respectively. Further, C.-Y. Yen et al. provide the toxicological study for cardiotoxin III in growth inhibition of oral cancer. C.-Y. Lin et al. provide a review article for the chemoprevention of cytochrome P450 in oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) patients in terms of betel quid metabolism. S.-S. Liang et al. introduce the novel technique for online monitoring oxidative products and metabolites of nicotine based on tandem mass spectrometry.

Some papers introduce the bioinformatics methods or resources to study or review the natural products-related studies. L. Wang et al. introduce the gene ontology (GO) network for the systems-theoretical analysis of human hepatocellular carcinoma. Y.-C. Lin et al. provide the database (TIPdb) for anticancer, antiplatelet, and antituberculosis phytochemicals from indigenous plants in Taiwan. Three papers (W.-H. Huang et al. and J.-Y. Tang et al.) provide the drug discovery for cancer and disease therapy in terms of RNA editing, alternative splicing, and long noncoding RNAs as well as the summary for their bioinformatics resources.


Hsueh-Wei Chang

Li-Yeh Chuang

Sanjay Guleria

Sammia Yasmin

/pdf/natural-products-bioactivity-biochemistry-and-biological-3j96omq0oy.pdf

Natural Products: Bioactivity, Biochemistry, and Biological Effects in Cancer and Disease Therapy

The phytochemical study of the aerial parts of Aster scaber THUNB. (Asteraceae) yielded a new caffeoyl quinic acid, (-) 3, 5-dicaffeoyl-muco-quinic acid (2) and three known compounds, (-) 3, 5-dicaffeoyl quinic acid (1), (-) 4, 5-dicaffeoyl quinic acid (3), (-) 5-caffeoyl quinic acid (4). The structures were established by high resolution spectroscopic methods. The antiviral effects against HIV-1 integrase of the compounds was evaluated. (-) 3, 5-Dicaffeoyl-muco-quinic acid (2) exhibited potent antiviral activity with an IC50 value of 7.0±1.3 μg/ml.

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb1958/48/11/48_11_1796/_pdf

A new caffeoyl quinic acid from aster scaber and its inhibitory activity against human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) integrase.

The purification of a MeOH extract from the rhizome of Acorus gramineus (Araceae) using column chromatography furnished two new stereoisomers of phenylpropanoid, acoraminol A (1) and acoraimol B (2). It also furnished 17 known phenolic compounds, β-asarone (3), asaraldehyde (4), isoacoramone (5), propioveratrone (6), (1′R,2′S)-1′,2′-dihydroxyasarone (7), (1′S,2′S)-1′,2′-dihydroxyasarone (8), 3′,4′-dimethoxycinnamyl alcohol (9), 3′,4′,5′-trimethoxycinnamyl alcohol (10), kaempferol 3-methyl ether (11), 2-[4-(3-hydroxypropyl)-2-methoxyphenoxy]-1,3-propanediol (12), hydroxytyrosol (13), tyrosol (14), (2S,5S)-diveratryl-(3R,4S)-dimethyltetrahydrofuran (15), (7S,8R)-dihydrodehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (16), 7S,8S-threo-4,7,9,9′-tetrahydroxy-3,3′-dimethoxy-8-O-4′-neolignan (17), 7S,8R-erythro-4,7,9,9′-tetrahydroxy-3,3′-dimethoxy-8-O-4′-neolignan (18), and dihydroyashsbushiketol (19). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by analysis of spectroscopic data including 1D and 2D NMR data. The absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were determined using the convenient Mosher ester procedure. Compounds 5–19 were isolated for the first time from this plant source. The isolated compounds were tested for cytotoxicity against four human tumor cell lines in vitro using a Sulforhodamine B (SRB) bioassay.

Phenolic constituents of Acorus gramineus.

Three limonoids and five alkaloids were isolated from the chloroform layer of the MeOH extract of the bark ofPhellodendron amurense (Rutaceae). The structures of the compounds isolated were determined to be obacunone (1), limonin (2), 12α-hydroxylimonin (3), γ-fagarine (4), oxyberberine (5), canthin-6-one (6), 4-methoxy-N-methyl-2-quinolone (7) and oxypalmatine (8) based on the physicochemical and spectroscopic data. Compounds3,5,7, and8 were first isolated from thePhellodendron amurense. The isolated compounds were then tested for their cytotoxicity against five human tumor cell linesin vitro using the SRB method. Compound5 showed significant cytotoxicity against the five tumor cell lines with ED50 values ranging from 0.30 to 3.0 μg/mL. The marginal or noncytotoxic compounds (1,2,3,4, and7) were examined for their P-gp related MDR reversal activities. Compound1 showed significant P-gp MDR inhibition activity in MES-SA/DX5 and HCT15 cells with an ED50 value of 0.028 μg/mL and 0.0011 μ.g/mL, respectively.

Isolation of limonoids and alkaloids from Phellodendron amurense and their multidrug resistance (MDR) reversal activity.

Polyphenols from the bark of Rhus verniciflua and their biological evaluation on antitumor and anti-inflammatory activities

The chromatographic separation of the MeOH extract of the aerial parts of Solidago virgaaurea var. gigantea MIQ. (Compositae) led to the isolation of six terpenoids and four phenolic compounds,frans-phytol (1),ent-germacra-4(15),5,10(14)-trien-1-ol (2), β-amyrin acetate (3),ent-germacra-4(15),5,10(14)-trien-1β-ol (4), β-dictyopterol (5), oleanolic acid (6), kaempferol (7), kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside (8), methyl 3,5-di-O-caffeoyl quinate (9), and 3,5-di-O-caffeoyl quinic acid (10). Their structures were established by chemical and spectroscopic methods. Compounds4,5, and10 showed moderate cytotoxicity against five cultured human tumor cell lines in vitro with its ED50 values ranging from 1.52~18.57 μg/mL

Sang Un Choi

Papers

A new caffeoyl quinic acid from aster scaber and its inhibitory activity against human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) integrase.

Phenolic constituents of Acorus gramineus.

Isolation of limonoids and alkaloids from Phellodendron amurense and their multidrug resistance (MDR) reversal activity.

Polyphenols from the bark of Rhus verniciflua and their biological evaluation on antitumor and anti-inflammatory activities

Pytochemical Constituents of the Aerial Parts from Solidago virga-aurea var. gigantea