Very large concentration increases in nitrite (34-fold), nitrosated pyridine alkaloids, and related 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) (14- to 33-fold) occurred in moist snuff during storage at 24 degrees C for 52 weeks, whereas, decreases in all parent and some acylated pyridine alkaloids were observed in the same material. Nitrite concentrations in dry snuff decreased up to ...

The flagellate Trypanosoma brucei causes sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals. Only a few drugs are registered to treat trypanosomiasis, but those drugs show severe side effects. Also, because some pathogen strains have become resistant, new strategies are urgently needed to combat this parasitic disease. An underexplored possibility is the application of combinations of several tr...

Seeds of plants from Ipomoea genera contain numerous ergot alkaloids, including psychoactive ergine and ergometrine, and are often abused as so-called "legal highs." In this work, an analytical method for determination of ergine and ergometrine, and identification of other alkaloids was developed, optimized, and validated. Three extraction techniques, ultrasound-assisted extraction in bath, or ...

This study assessed the occurrence and distribution of tropane alkaloids and calystegines in genera of the family Solanaceae to identify patterns of distribution and make evolutionary inferences. A database of tropane alkaloids and calystegines occurrences was constructed from the results of a search of scientific websites and a hand search of periodicals. The terms "Solanaceae", "tropane alkal...

JinQi Jiangtang (JQJT) tablets, a Chinese patent medicine approved by the State Food and Drug Administration, are composed of Coptidis Rhizoma, Astragali Radix, and Lonicerae Japonicae Flos, and have a significant effect on diabetes. Coptidis Rhizoma is monarch drug in the prescription. The aim of the present study was to investigate and compare the pharmacokinetics of multiple ingredients from...

Lipo-alkaloid is a kind of C19-norditerpenoid alkaloid usually found in Aconitum species. Structurally, they contain an aconitane skeleton and one or two fatty acid moieties of 3-25 carbon chains with 1-6 unsaturated degrees. Analysis of the lipo-alkaloids in roots of Aconitum carmichaelii resulted in the isolation of six known pure lipo-alkaloids (A1-A6) and a lipo-alkaloid mixture (A7). The m...

BACKGROUND Some isoquinoline alkaloids from Macleaya cordata (Willd). R. Br. (Bo Luo Hui) exhibited antibacterial, antiparasitic, antitumor, and analgesic effects. The targets of these isoquinoline alkaloids are undefined. This study aims to investigate the compound-target interaction network and potential pharmacological actions of isoquinoline alkaloids of M. cordata by reverse pharmacophore ...

Different lineages of fungi produce distinct classes of ergot alkaloids. Lysergic acid-derived ergot alkaloids produced by fungi in the Clavicipitaceae are particularly important in agriculture and medicine. The pathway to lysergic acid is partly elucidated, but the gene encoding the enzyme that oxidizes the intermediate agroclavine is unknown. We investigated two candidate agroclavine oxidase ...

Alkaloids containing a central bicyclo[n.2.2]piperazinedione (diketopiperazine, DKP, n 2) ring system, bridged at positions 3 and 6, constitute an ever-growing class of secondary metabolites. DKPs 1, biosynthesized from amino acids either by nonribosomal peptide synthases (NRPS) or by tRNA-dependent enzymes called cyclodipeptide synthases (CDPS), are the central precursors, from which diverse a...

There has been enormous progress over the past fifteen years or so in our understanding of the ways in which complex natural products are synthesized in living systems. In the field of alkaloids, as elsewhere, research during the initial phase1 pin-pointed those substances which are used as the common building blocks, examples being acetic acid, ornithine and lysine for the reduced systems, and...