Saponins are glycosylated plant secondary metabolites found in many major food crops [Price, K. R., Johnson, I. T. & Fenwick, G. R. (1987) CRC Crit. Rev. Food Sci. Nutr. 26, 27-133]. Because many saponins have potent antifungal properties and are present in healthy plants in high concentrations, these molecules may act as preformed chemical barriers to fungal attack. The isolation of plant muta...

Processing alters the pharmacological activity and reduces the gastrointestinal toxicity of the polygalae. To investigate the effect of processing, different glycosyl substituent products were tested. Hypnotic and subhypnotic doses of pentobarbital-induced sleep tests on mice were used to evaluate the sedative activity of polygala saponins with different glycosyl substituents; isolated gut moti...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of saponins from Quillaja saponaria on fatty acid (FA) composition and cholesterol content in muscle Longissimus dorsi of lambs. A total of 24 Barbarine lambs were assigned to four dietary treatments: control diet (C) consisting of oat hay ad libitum and 400 g of concentrate (80% barley, 17.5% soybean meal and 2.5% vitam...

From the root and stem bark of Cephalanthus occidentalis L., a common American wetland species, six new triterpenoid saponins (1 - 6), together with 29 known compounds were isolated and identified. On the basis of spectroscopic analysis and chemical degradation, the structures of new compounds were elucidated as 3-O-beta-glucopyranosylcincholic acid (1), cincholic acid 28-O-beta-glucopyranosyl ...

Four new triterpenoid saponins, designated as stelmatotriterpenosides E-H (1-4), together with three known compounds, asterbatanoside B (5), 2alpha,3beta,19alpha,23-tetrahydroxy-olean-12-en-28-oic acid-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (6) and 2alpha,3beta,19alpha,23-tetrahydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid-3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl ester (7), were ...

background and objectives: astragalus is one of the most abundant genera of flowering plants in iran. there are a few reports on phytochemical investigation of this valuable genus. saponins, flavonoids and polysaccharides have been reported as the most important metabolites in astragalus species. in the present research, we aimed to identify the foremost constituents of astragalus maximus. meth...

the goal of this study was to prepare and characterize alginate microspheres as an antigen delivery system and adjuvant for immunization against leishmaniasis. microspheres encapsulated with autoclaved leishmania major (alm) and quillaja saponin (qs) were prepared by an emulsification technique and characterized for size, encapsulation efficiency and release profile of encapsulates. selection o...

Alternative medicinal agents, such as the herb Bupleurum, are increasingly used in modern medicine to supplement synthetic drugs. First, we present a review of the currently known effects of triterpene saponins-saikosaponins of Bupleurum species. The putative biosynthetic pathway of saikosaponins in Bupleurum species is summarized, followed by discussions on identification and characterization ...