Lawsonia inermis is a single-species genus of the Lythraceae family, its leaves, stem bark, roots, flowers and seeds have been used in traditional medicine. It has been paid more attention by scholars from many countries because of their various types of compounds and significant physiological activities. The plant is reported to contain quinones, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, terpenoids, phenolic compounds and fatty acids. Modern pharmacological studies have demonstrated that the plant performs antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer and antiparasitic activity. This article mainly summarizes the research advances of chemical constituents and biological activities of Lawsonia inermis, for its further development and utilization.
Anti-Infective Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antiparasitic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Lawsonia Plant ; chemistry

According to documents of recent fifty years the article summarized the herbalogical study, processing, chemical constituent, quality standard, pharmacologic action and clinical study of Oroxylum indicum. The chemical constituents mainly are flavonoids, glycoside and volatile oil. It also contains pterocarpan and rhodioside with p-hydroxyphenylethanols and cyclohexanols. Quantitative index was added in the quality standard of china pharmacopeia since 1995, but the quantitative standard is blank at the present, and the baicalin was mostly used for quantitative standard in the documents which lack of mark. Baicalein -7-O-diglucoside didn't existed in the other plants. It's mark will do good to the enhancement of quality standard. Pharmacologic action and clinical study were mainly anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenesis, antibiosis, anticancera,and coughing.
Animals ; Anti-Bacterial Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Bignoniaceae ; chemistry ; Humans ; Molecular Structure ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry

The ocean continues to provide a plethora of unique scaffolds capable of remarkable biological applications. A large number of pyrroloiminoquinone alkaloids, including discorhabdins, epinardins, batzellines, makaluvamines, and veiutamine, have been isolated from various marine organisms. A class of pyrroloiminoquinone-related alkaloids, known as bispyrroloquinones, is the focus of this review article. This family of marine alkaloids, which contain an aryl substituted bispyrroloquinone ring system, includes three subclasses of alkaloids namely, wakayin, tsitsikammamines A-B, and zyzzyanones A-D. Both wakayin and the tsitsikammamines contain a tetracyclic fused bispyrroloiminoquinone ring system, while zyzzyanones contain a fused tricyclic bispyrroloquinone ring system. The unique chemical structures of these marine natural products and their diverse biological properties, including antifungal and antimicrobial activity, as well as the potent, albeit generally nonspecific and universal cytotoxicities, have attracted great interest of synthetic chemists over the past three decades. Tsitsikammamines, wakayin, and several of their analogs show inhibition of topoisomerases. One additional possible mechanism of anticancer activity of tsitsikammamines analogs that has been discovered recently is through the inhibition of indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase, an enzyme involved in tumoral immune resistance. This review discusses the isolation, synthesis, and evaluation of bioactivities of bispyrroloquinone alkaloids and their analogs.
Alkaloids ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Animals ; Anti-Infective Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Biological Products ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Indole Alkaloids ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Indoles ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Pyrroles ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Quinolines ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Quinones ; chemistry ; pharmacology

Flavonoids are a widely distributed group of phytochemicals having benzo-pyrone nucleus, and more than 4,000 different flavonoids have been described and categorized into flavonols, flavones, flavanones, isoflavones, catechins and anthocyanidins. Flavonoids occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and beverages such as coffee, tea, and red wine, as well as in medical herbs. Flavonoids are responsible for the different colors of plant parts and are important constituents of the human diet. Flavanoids have different pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, anti-allergic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic and anticancer activity. Naringenin belongs to the flavanones and is mainly found in fruits (grapefruit and oranges) and vegetables. Pharmacologically, it has anticancer, antimutagenic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiproliferative and antiatherogenic activities. Naringenin is used for the treatments of osteoporosis, cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and showed lipid-lowering and insulin-like properties. In the present review, detailed pharmacological and analytical aspects of naringenin have been presented, which revealed the impressive pharmacological profile and the possible usefulness in the treatment of different types of diseases in the future. The information provided in this communication will act as an important source for development of effective medicines for the treatment of various disorders.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Flavanones ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Isoflavones ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy

Gamboge, the resin of Garcinia hanburyi has had a long history of use as the traditional dye as well as a complementary and alternative medicine. The antitumor activities of gamboge have been well demonstrated by inhibiting the growth and progression of cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. In order to further clarify the mode of action of gamboge, there are three key questions needed to be answered, including what's in gamboge? How do the chemical components from gamboge work on cancer cells? How do biological systems work on the chemical components from gamboge after administration? In this review, we summarize the explorations of the answers toward these questions according to the recent progress in both of chemistry and biology research of gamboge. In addition, the implication in the future research and discovery of the caged G. xanthones as anticancer agents is also discussed.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Garcinia ; chemistry ; Humans ; Plant Extracts ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Resins, Plant ; chemistry ; pharmacology

With the decrease in land resources, marine resources open a new path for drug development, among which sponge is one of important marine biological resources. In recent years, many anti-tumor active compounds in new structures have been extracted and isolated from sponges. Targeted anti-tumor drugs from sponge become a new trend during the development of innovative drugs of marine resources. This essay summarizes the anti-tumor mechanism of sponge's active compounds and its related synthetics on the basis of its various anti-tumor targets including cytoskeleton (microtubule and actin), protein kinases (cyclin dependent kinase and aurora kinase), DNA synthesis and relevant enzymeso, growth microenvironment for tumor tissues and the immune system. Additionally, it also briefs relevant clinical studies.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Cytoskeleton ; drug effects ; Humans ; Immunologic Factors ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Porifera ; chemistry ; Protease Inhibitors ; chemistry ; pharmacology

A commonly used Chinese crude drug Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus has been shown to possess good anticancer activities and related properties such as antioxidation, nitrite scavenging, nitrosamine synthesis blocking and immune enhancement, and has been widely used as an effective auxiliary drug in the treatment of some malignant tumors. This paper systematically reviews the advances in the study of anticancer-related activities of Allii Macrostemonis Bulbus's various components such as raw juice, extracts, saponins, volatile oil, polysaccharides, nitrogen compounds, etc.
Allium ; chemistry ; Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; Antioxidants ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Oils, Volatile ; pharmacology ; Plant Extracts ; pharmacology

To explore novel histone deacetylase (HDACs) inhibitors with anti-tumor activity, MS-275, a HDACs inhibitor, was prepared and used as a lead compound to design new N-substituted benzamide derivatives. MS-275 and eleven target compounds were obtained, and their structures were confirmed by 1H NMR and HR-MS individually. The results showed that the activity of compound 9d was equal to MS-275 in HDACs inhibition tests in vitro and worthy of further investigation. Compound 5c, 5d and 9c displayed obvious dose-effect relationship, which possessed moderate HDACs inhibitory activities. Ten compounds except 9e had selective inhibitory activities on Hut78.
Antineoplastic Agents ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Benzamides ; chemical synthesis ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Humans

Emodin is one of the main active ingredient of Rheum palmatum, and has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and other effects. In recent years, it arouse concern since it has a significant anti-tumor effect with low toxicity. In this paper we mainly report the anti-cancer effects of emodin according to the studies of the past five years, including four parts such as inhibit tumor growth, inhibit migration and invasion, enhance the efficacy of combination therapy, increase chemosensitivity and attenuated side effects. We hope that our work may provide a reference for further study.
Animals ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Emodin ; chemistry ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; drug therapy

Chemical investigation was carried out to study the alkaloids from stems of Nelumbo nucifera and their cytotoxic activities. The constituents were separated by column chromatography, and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analyses. The isolated compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities by MTr method. Fifteen compounds were isolated from the total alkaloids extract and identified as asimilobine (1), isococlaurine (2), N-acetylnorarmepavine (3), crykonisine (4), velucryptine (5), pycnarrhine (6), liriodenine (7), nuciferine (8), nornuciferine (9), armepavine (10), N-methylasimilobine (11), coclaurine (12), N-norarmepavine (13), N-methylcoclaurine (14) and lysicamine (15). Compounds 1-7 and 12-15 were isolated from stems of this plant for the first time, and compounds 2-6 were firstly isolated from the family Nelumbonaceae. Compounds 7-10, 13 and 14 showed significant cytotoxic activities against HL-60 carcinoma cell line with inhibitory ratios of 51.36%, 59.09%, 52.51%, 53.93%, 51.43%, and 64.31% at concentration of 1 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1), respectively.
Alkaloids ; pharmacology ; Antineoplastic Agents ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; Nelumbo ; chemistry ; Plant Stems ; chemistry