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BackgroundChrysin and its analogues, belongs to flavonoid family and possess potential anti-tumour activity. The aim of this study is to determine the molecular mechanism by which chrysin controls cell growth and induce apoptosis in A375 cells.MethodsEffect of chrysin and its analogues on cell viability and cell cycle analysis was determined by MTT assay and flowcytometry. A series of Western blots was performed to determine the effect of chrysin on important cell cycle regulatory proteins (Cdk2, cyclin D1, p53, p21, p27). The fluorimetry and calorimetry based assays was conducted for characterization of chrysin as HDAC inhibitor. The changes in histone tail modification such as acetylation and methylation was studied after chrysin treatment was estimated by immuno-fluorescence and western blot analysis. The expression of Bcl-xL, survivin and caspase-3 was estimated in chrysin treated cells. The effect of chrysin on p21 promoter activity was studied by luciferase and ChIP assays.ResultsChrysin cause G1 cell cycle arrest and found to inhibit HDAC-2 and HDAC-8. Chrysin treated cells have shown increase in the levels of H3acK14, H4acK12, H4acK16 and decrease in H3me2K9 methylation. The p21 induction by chrysin treatment was found to be independent of p53 status. The chromatin remodelling at p21WAF1 promoter induces p21 activity, increased STAT-1 expression and epigenetic modifications that are responsible for ultimate cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.ConclusionChrysin shows in vitro anti-cancer activity that is correlated with induction of histone hyperacetylation and possible recruitment of STAT-1, 3, 5 proteins at STAT (−692 to −684) region of p21 promoter. Our results also support an unexpected action of chrysin on the chromatin organization of p21WAF1 promoter through histone methylation and hyper-acetylation. It proposes previously unknown sequence specific chromatin modulations in the STAT responsive elements for regulating cell cycle progression negatively via the induction of the CDK inhibitor p21WAF1.

Barringtonia racemosa presents a wide range of therapeutic applications. In the course of identifying bioactives from Indian medicinal plants it was observed that the hexane, ethanol and methanol extracts of B. racemosa seeds displayed potent yeast and intestinal alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activities. The methanol extract was found to be superior among them. However, none of the extracts exhibited pancreatic alpha-amylase inhibitory activity, rather the ethanol and methanol extracts accelerated the alpha-amylase enzyme activity. Interestingly, however, bartogenic acid isolated from the methanol extract inhibited alpha-amylase also. This is the first report identifying alpha-glucosidase inhibitory activity in B. racemosa seed extracts and assigning to bartogenic acid an alpha-glucosidase and amylase inhibitory property. The presence of bartogenic acid in B. racemosa seeds as a major compound is also reported for the first time in this communication.

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As a continuation of our efforts directed towards the development of anti-diabetic agents from natural sources, piplartine was isolated from Piper chaba, and was found to inhibit recombinant human ALR2 with an IC50 of 160 µM. To improve the efficacy, a series of analogues have been synthesized by modification of the styryl/aromatic and heterocyclic ring functionalities of this natural product lead. All the derivatives were tested for their ALR2 inhibitory activity, and results indicated that adducts 3c, 3e and 2j prepared by the Michael addition of piplartine with indole derivatives displayed potent ARI activity, while the other compounds displayed varying degrees of inhibition. The active compounds were also capable of preventing sorbitol accumulation in human red blood cells.