Background and objectives: Many members of the Amaryllidaceae are regarded as toxic. The toxic constituents that occur in the whole family are referred to as the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids. The main aim of this study was the identification of alkaloid compounds from Galanthus transcaucasicus Fomin, a medicinal plant from Amaryllidaceae. Methods: Planar a...

BACKGROUND Hematopoietic prostaglandin D2 synthase (H-PGDS, GST Sigma) is a member of the glutathione S-transferase super family of enzymes that catalyses the conjugation of electrophilic substances with reduced glutathione. The enzyme catalyses the conversion of PGH2 to PGD2 which mediates inflammatory responses. The inhibition of H-PGDS is of importance in alleviating damage to tissues due to...

BACKGROUND Several clinical trials have performed risk-benefit analyses comparing docetaxel and pemetrexed or docetaxel and vinca alkaloid, but the efficacy and safety remain uncertain. The aim was to conduct a meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of docetaxel and pemetrexed or docetaxel and vinca alkaloid for non-small-cell lung cancer. METHODS This meta-analysis of Phase III ran...

The Delphinium alkaloids methyllycaconitine (MLA), nudicauline, 14-deacetylnudicauline (14-DN), barbinine, and deltaline were investigated for their effects on neuromuscular transmission in lizards. The substituent at C14 provides the only structural difference among the alkaloids MLA, nudicauline, 14-DN, and barbinine. Deltaline lacks the N-(methylsuccinyl)anthranilic acid at C18 common to the...

Phytochemical investigation of Laureliopsis philippiana resulted in isolation of a new bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid (1) named laureliopsine A. The structure was established by spectroscopic methods, including 2D homo- and heteronuclear NMR experiments. This finding of a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid in Laureliopsis supports its close relationship to Atherosperma and its taxonomic segregation...

The low yield and high market price of the pharmaceutically important alkaloids of Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don viz. vincristine, vinblastine and ajmalicine have created interest in improved alternative routes for their production such as using cell and tissue culture. The callus developed on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with different concentrations of auxins and cytokinins w...

Both cis- and trans-2-methyl-6-undecylpiperidines, MC11P, have been previously reported as the major components of the venom of alate queens of the imported fire ants, Solenopsis richteri (black) and S. invicta (red). To identify the minor components of venom alkaloids from alate queens and compare the venom alkaloid chemistry of alate queen of their hybrid (S. richteri×S. invicta) with that of...

Ultrasound and microwave techniques were used to extract tobacco alkaloids, and response surface methodology was used to optimize extraction conditions. Ultrasonic technique factors were temperature, 30-85 degrees C; time, 3-45 min; solvent volume, 8-80 mL. Microwave extraction factors were pressure, 15-75 psi; time, 3-40 min; power, 30-90% of the maximum magnetron power of 650 W. Soxhlet and s...

The present study has found that dried potato samples yielded significantly higher levels of steroidal alkaloids such as α-solanine and α-chaconine than the corresponding fresh samples, as determined by the UPLC-MS/MS technique. Among the drying techniques used, air drying had the highest effect on steroidal alkaloid contents, followed by freeze drying and vacuum oven drying. There was no signi...

Several insect lineages have developed diverse strategies to sequester toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids from food-plants for their own defense. Here, we show that in two highly divergent insect taxa, the hemimetabolous grasshoppers and the holometabolous butterflies, an almost identical strategy evolved independently for safe accumulation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. This strategy involves a pyrrol...