Identification of antitumor lignans from the seeds of morning glory (Pharbitis nil)

J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Aug 6;62(31):7746-52. doi: 10.1021/jf501470k. Epub 2014 Jul 25.

Abstract

In the search for antitumor compounds from Korean natural resources, activity-guided fractionation and purification processes were used on seeds of morning glory (Pharbitis nil). Air-dried P. nil seeds were extracted with ethanol and separated into n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol. Four new lignans, pharbilignans A-D (1-4) were isolated from the most active ethyl acetate fraction of the ethanol extract. Their structures were characterized on the basis of spectroscopic methods, including one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques, high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. The cytotoxic activities of the isolates (1-4) were evaluated by determining their inhibitory effects on four human tumor cell lines (A549, SK-OV-3, SK-MEL-2, and HCT15) using a sulforhodamine B (SRB) bioassay. Pharbilignan C (3) showed potent cytotoxicity against A549, SK-OV-3, SK-MEL-2, and HCT-15 cell lines with IC50 values of 1.42, 0.16, 0.20, and 0.14 μM, respectively. On the basis of the expanded understanding that inflammation is a crucial cause in tumor progress, we also evaluated anti-inflammatory activity of the isolates (1-4). Pharbilignan C (3) strongly inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated BV-2 microglia cell line with an IC50 value of 12.8 μM.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / pharmacology
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / isolation & purification
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Humans
  • Ipomoea nil / chemistry*
  • Lignans / chemistry
  • Lignans / isolation & purification
  • Lignans / pharmacology*
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Republic of Korea
  • Seeds / chemistry*

Substances

  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
  • Lignans
  • Plant Extracts