No abstract

We have been searching for inhibitors for Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation in plants and callus cells. We have induced callus cell lines from various plants and found that triterpenes contained in Sesamum indicum L. callus cells showed anti-tumor promoter activity. In this paper we describe isolation, characterization and anti-tumor promoter activity of triterpens in S. indicum L. callus.For the induction of the callus, we used segments of the seedling of S. indicum L. 1). The callus cells were cultured in modified Murige-Skoog1)2) liquid medium at 35C with aeration. The cells (23.3kg-Fresh Weight) were extrad with EtOH-H2O (4 :1) (721x3) and the extct was dried in vacuo. The dried exact was applied on an Ambite XAD-2 (Organo) column (160 x 1300 mm) and successively eluted with H2O, McOH-H2O (1:4), McOH-H2O (2:3), McOH-H2O (3:2) McOH-H2O(4:1), MMeOH and acene. The MeOH fraion was then fractionated on a silica gel (Merck) column, eluted with CHCl3, ) and McOH. The fraction eluted with McOH-CHCl3 (7.5:92.5) was applied to a column chromatography on