Free radicals derived from oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur molecules in the biological system are highly active to react with other molecules due to their unpaired electrons. These radicals are important part of groups of molecules called reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS), which are produced during cellular metabolism and functional activities and have important roles in cell signalling, apoptosis, gene expression and ion transportation. However, excessive ROS attack bases in nucleic acids, amino acid side chains in proteins and double bonds in unsaturated fatty acids, and cause oxidative stress, which can damage DNA, RNA, proteins and lipids resulting in an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, cancer, autism and other diseases. Intracellular antioxidant enzymes and intake of dietary antioxidants may help to maintain an adequate antioxidant status in the body. In the past decades, new molecular techniques, cell cultures and animal models have been established to study the effects and mechanisms of antioxidants on ROS. The chemical and molecular approaches have been used to study the mechanism and kinetics of antioxidants and to identify new potent antioxidants. Antioxidants can decrease the oxidative damage directly via reacting with free radicals or indirectly by inhibiting the activity or expression of free radical generating enzymes or enhancing the activity or expression of intracellular antioxidant enzymes. The new chemical and cell-free biological system has been applied in dissecting the molecular action of antioxidants. This review focuses on the research approaches that have been used to study oxidative stress and antioxidants in lipid peroxidation, DNA damage, protein modification as well as enzyme activity, with emphasis on the chemical and cell-free biological system.

https://faculty.missouri.edu/~glaserr/3700s14/Antioxidant_Rev_j.1582-4934.2009.00897.x.pdf

Chemical and molecular mechanisms of antioxidants: experimental approaches and model systems.

Antioxidant activity of Citrus fruits

Alkaloids are important chemical compounds that serve as a rich reservoir for drug discovery. Several alkaloids isolated from natural herbs exhibit antiproliferation and antimetastasis effects on various types of cancers both in vitro and in vivo. Alkaloids, such as camptothecin and vinblastine, have already been successfully developed into anticancer drugs. This paper focuses on the naturally derived alkaloids with prospective anticancer properties, such as berberine, evodiamine, matrine, piperine, sanguinarine, and tetrandrine, and summarizes the mechanisms of action of these compounds. Based on the information in the literature that is summarized in this paper, the use of alkaloids as anticancer agents is very promising, but more research and clinical trials are necessary before final recommendations on specific alkaloids can be made.

/pdf/alkaloids-isolated-from-natural-herbs-as-the-anticancer-3m3anc5a3x.pdf

Alkaloids Isolated from Natural Herbs as the Anticancer Agents

Coumarins, a well-known class of naturally occurring compounds, display a remarkable array of biochemical and pharmacological actions, some of which suggest that certain members of this group of compounds may significantly affect the function of various mammalian cellular systems. The development of coumarins as antioxidant agents has attracted much attention in recent years. Coumarins afford an opportunity for the discovery of new antioxidants with truly novel mechanisms of action. This review updates and expands the 2006 review by the same author. The review considers and incorporates the most recently published literature on coumarins as related to their antioxidant properties. A lot of coumarins have been identified from natural sources, especially green plants. These natural compounds have served as valuable leads for further design and synthesis of more active analogues. Beyond doubt, a deep understanding of the mechanisms of existing synthetic and natural coumarins will build the basis for the rational design.

Coumarins as antioxidants.

Coumarins are of many different structures. They constitute an important class of pharmacological agents possessing a range of different physiological activities including anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti- inflammation, anti-HIV, anti-coagulant, anti-bacterial, analgesic and comparative immune-modulation. Recently, coumarins have attracted intense research interest. Of great interest is the possibility that this class of molecules could be a source of drugs for the therapy of several diseases. These include recent insights into inhibiting cell proliferation by interfering with mitotic spindle microtubule function, decrease Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) activity, block the cell cycle in the S or G2/M phases to interfere with processes of cell division, suppress O2(-) generation in leukocytes, inhibit different protein kinases, modulate the signalings, induce carcinogen-detoxifying enzymes glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) and/or NAD(P)H quinine oxidoreductase (NQO1), suppress the phosphorylation of Akt/PKB as a mechanism inhibiting inflammation, progress in structure modification to increase in anti-fungal action, to broaden against bacteria spectrum, to enhance inhibiting activities of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX), to strengthen anti-oxidant activity and to exhibite a much higher cytotoxicity against human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC). With fewer non-hemorrhagic side effects than the indanedione derivatives, they can be applied as an oral anticoagulant commonly for preventing venous thromboembolism following orthopedic surgery, recurrent myocardial infarction and the treatment of systemic embolism in atrial fibrillation, together with the significant advances in the basis of drug action. It is therefore useful to build up some correlations with the data available in order to better explore the molecular and cellular mechanism of coumarin action in the treatment of diseases. This review will focus on recent advances in molecular and cellular mechanisms of coumarin action involved with the relationship between structure and activity.

The Structure and Pharmacological Functions of Coumarins and Their Derivatives

http://libir.tmu.edu.tw/bitstream/987654321/3062/4/134.pdf

Structure-activity relationship of coumarin derivatives on xanthine oxidase-inhibiting and free radical-scavenging activities

Caffeic acid is a xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitor that binds to the molybdopterin region of its active site. Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) has higher hydrophobicity and exhibits stronger inhibition potency toward XO. Chlorogenic acid is a quinyl ester of caffeic acid that has increased hydrophilicity and also shows stronger XO inhibitory activity compared with caffeic acid. Caffeic acid and CAPE showed competitive inhibition against XO, whereas chlorogenic acid displayed mixed-type inhibition, implying that it binds to sites other than the active site. Structure-based molecular modeling was performed to account for the different binding characteristics of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic esters of caffeic acid. Chlorogenic acid showed weak binding to the molybdopterin region of XO, while it more strongly bound the flavin adenine dinucleotide region than it did the molybdopterin region. These results provide the basis for interactions of caffeic acid analogues with XO via various binding domains.

Hydrophilic ester-bearing chlorogenic acid binds to a novel domain to inhibit xanthine oxidase

Background
The topoisomerase I (TopI) reaction intermediate consists of an enzyme covalently linked to a nicked DNA molecule, known as a TopI-DNA complex, that can be trapped by inhibitors and results in failure of re-ligation. Attempts at new derivative designs for TopI inhibition are enthusiastically being pursued, and TopI inhibitors were developed for a variety of applications. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was recently used in TopI-inhibition studies. However, most such immobilized small molecules or short-sequence nucleotides are used as ligands onto sensor chips, and TopI was used as the analyte that flowed through the sensor chip.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186%2F1423-0127-17-49.pdf

Zhi Yang Lai

Papers

Structure-activity relationship of coumarin derivatives on xanthine oxidase-inhibiting and free radical-scavenging activities

Hydrophilic ester-bearing chlorogenic acid binds to a novel domain to inhibit xanthine oxidase

Immobilizing topoisomerase I on a surface plasmon resonance biosensor chip to screen for inhibitors