Steroidal saponins with anti-inflammatory activity from Tribulus terrestris L.

Abstract

Objective: Tribulus terrestris L. (T. terrestris) is a highly valuable traditional Chinese medicine used to treat stroke, inflammation, pulmonary fibrosis, liver cancer, and urolithiasis. To identify the basic substance responsible for the anti-inflammatory effect of TST (total saponins of Tribulus), its chemical composition was systematically studied, and its effect of inhibiting nitric oxide generation and the expression of related inflammatory factors were determined.Methods: To separate chemical constituents from T. terrestris by column chromatography. Spectroscopic methods, including 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) techniques, were used to elucidate the isolated compounds. The anti-inflammatory activities of TST and several compounds were evaluated in vitro.Results: Fifteen steroidal saponins, including 9 furostanol steroidal saponins (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 15) and 6 isospirostanol steroidal saponins (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14), were isolated from T. terrestris. TST significantly decreased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in RAW 264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharides. Compounds 13 and 15 evidently reduced TNF-a expression. Compounds 6, 10, 12, 13, and 15 markedly reduced IL-6 expression. Conclusions: Compounds 1 was a novel furostanol steroidal saponin, named 26-O-b-D-glucopyranosyl-(25R)-5afurostan-12-carbonyl-20(22)-en-3b, 26-diol-3-O-{b-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→2)-[b-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)]-b-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→4)-[a-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)]-b-D-galactopyranoside}. Compounds 2 was isolated from the family Zygophyllaceae for the first time, and 5 and 6 were isolated from the Tribulus genus. TST and compounds 6, 10, 12, 13, and 15 exerts antiinflammatory activity.

Degradation Profiling of Nardosinone at High Temperature and in Simulated Gastric and Intestinal Fluids

“…As reported in a previous report [ 31 ], a CCK-8 assay was used to evaluate the effects of the isolated degradation products on the cell viabilities of BV–2 microglial cells, and a Griess method [ 32 ] was applied to evaluate their activities on the NO production in LPS–simulated BV-2 cells, with minocycline being selected as the positive drug.…”

IκB kinase β (IKKβ): Structure, transduction mechanism, biological function, and discovery of its inhibitors

“…IKKβ-mediated NF-κB pathway is a key signal transduction pathway involved in inflammatory response, angiogenesis, invasiveness, metastasis, and immune escape [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. After this signaling pathway is activated by inflammatory factors, it promotes the expression of inflammatory factors at the transcriptional level as well, thus forming a loop and producing an amplification effect to aggravate inflammation response [47][48][49][50][51].…”

“…So far, fourteen natural alkaloids have been reported to possess inhibitory potentials towards IKKβ (Figure 13-15), including berberine (43), vinpocetine (44), cryptopleurin (45), matrine (46), tetrandrine (47), piperlongumine (48), daphnipaxianine A (49), pipernigamides E-G (50-52), tulipiferamide A (53), herbimycin A (54), himalesine (55), and ellipticine (56) [115,[161][162][163][164][165][166][167][168][169]. Among them, himalensine (55, Figure 14), isolated from Daphniphyllum himalense, possesses an unprecedented 6/5/6/7/5/6 skeleton, and its proposed biosynthetic pathway was discussed [164].…”