The crude ethanol extracts (stem and fruits), their fractions and two triterpenes, β-Amyrin and 12-Oleanene 3β, 21β-diol, isolated as a mixture from the chloroform soluble fraction of an ethanolic extract of Duranta repens stem, were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal activities by the disc diffusion method and cytotoxicity by brine shrimp lethality bioassay. The structures of the two comp...

Spathodea falcata is used in Indian folk medicine as an antiulcerogenic agent. This study was intended to evaluate the antiulcer property of various extracts of bark of Spathodea falcata at different dose levels in ethanol induced and indomethacin induced gastric ulcer models. It was observed that oral administration of all the extracts shows significant reduction in ulcer lesion index as well ...

Antiproliferative action of different pentacyclic triterpenes has repeatedly been reported, and some lipoxygenase inhibitors have been shown to induce cell death in various cell systems. Acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid (AKBA) is a pentacyclic triterpene that inhibits 5-lipoxygenase in a selective, enzymedirected, nonredox, and noncompetitive manner. To investigate a possible effect of AKBA o...

BACKGROUND Panax japonicus C. A. Mey. is a rare traditional Chinese herbal medicine that uses ginsenosides as its main active ingredient. Rice does not produce ginsenosides because it lacks a key rate-limiting enzyme (β-amyrin synthase, βAS); however, it produces a secondary metabolite, 2,3-oxidosqualene, which is a precursor for ginsenoside biosynthesis. RESULTS In the present study, the P. ...

Frankincense extracts and boswellic acids, biologically active pentacyclic triterpenes of frankincense, block leukotriene biosynthesis and exert potent anti-inflammatory effects. Screening for additional effects of boswellic acids on further proinflammatory pathways, we observed that acetyl-11-keto-beta-boswellic acid, an established direct, nonredox and noncompetitive 5-lipoxygenase inhibitor,...

Partially coalified, structurally intact latex fibers found in a low rank coal were characterized by analytical methods. The latex fibers have a high sulfur content of approximately 10 percent. It has been proposed in previous studies, and it appears to be the case here, that the latex material has been “naturally” vulcanized during the early diagenetic period. Two fossilized latex samples reco...

Dandelion extracts have been studied extensively in recent years for its anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory activity. Recent work from our lab, with in-vitro systems, shows the anti-cancer potential of an aqueous dandelion root extract (DRE) in several cancer cell models, with no toxicity to non-cancer cells. In this study, we examined the cancer cell-killing effectiveness of an aqueous DRE ...

In Hoya bella latex a number of triterpenols were found, both in the free form and as esters. The main triterpenols were /?-amyrin, cycloartenol, lupeol and the rarely occurring isobauerenol; esters of these alcohols which included cinnamic acid, propionic acid and isovaleric acid were identified. A homologous series of alkanes with carbon chain length ranging from C-20 to C-31 was found. In le...

Two new clerodane-type diterpenoids trivially named as ballotenic acid (1) and ballodiolic acid (2) have been isolated from Ballota limbata along with three the known compounds; beta-amyrin, oleanolic acid, and beta-sitosterol. The structure elucidation of the new compounds was based primarily on two-dimensional (2D)-NMR techniques including correlation spectroscopy (COSY), heteronuclear multip...