1,721,001 research outputs found
Stinging nettle, Urtica dioica L.: botanical, phytochemical and pharmacological overview
No full textUrtica dioica L. (Urticaceae), commonly known as stinging nettle, is an herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the group of phytoalimurgic vegetables, including the wild edible species that were all used in the past when there was a shortage of food. The plant is well known from everybody for the dermatitis it causes when touched, due to biochemical mediators such as histamine and acetylcholine. Recently there was a rediscovery of the plant as food and medicine because of the range of biological activities exhibited such as antirheumatic, anti-infective, immuno-modulatory, anti-hyperglycaemic, and allergy relief. This review, providing a botanical, phytochemical and pharmacological overview of the species, aims to contribute to arouse interest in the scientific community on this promising plant
Squirting Cucumber, Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Ritch: An Update of Its Chemical and Pharmacological Profile
No full textEcballium elaterium, also known as squirting cucumber, is a plant which is widespread in temperate regions of Europe, Africa and Asia. The plant is considered to be one of the oldest used drugs. In the last decades, E. elaterium has been widely studied as a source of triterpene metabolites named cucurbitacins, often found as glycosylated derivatives, used by the plant as defensive agents. Such metabolites exhibit several biological activities, including cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer. Interestingly, the bioactive properties of E. elaterium extracts have been investigated in dozens of studies, especially by testing the apolar fractions, including the essential oils, extracted from leaves and fruits. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the chemical profile of different parts of the plants (leaves, flowers, and seeds) analyzing the methods used for structure elucidation and identification of single metabolites. The pharmacological studies on the isolated compounds are also reported, to highlight their potential as good candidates for drug discovery
Untargeted LC-HRMS Metabolomics and Chemometrics of Aloe vera Across Diverse Geographical Origins and Cultivation Practices
No full textThe chemical composition of Aloe vera leaves was investigated by using liquid chromatography–high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS). Five A. vera samples were collected across diverse geographical origins and cultivation practices: PO (Botanical Garden of Portici, Italy), CAN (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands), CA, E, and MM (Marine Reserve of Torre Guaceto, Brindisi, Italy). Analysis of hydroalcoholic organic extracts revealed 77 organic compounds, including ubiquitous primary metabolites (i.e., sugars, amino acids, and fatty acids) and natural products (i.e., phenols and aromatics, terpenes, and anthraquinones). Principal component analysis (PCA) on the raw dataset indicated a clear separation of samples depending on their geographical origins. PO samples showed high amounts of citric acid, the anthraquinone aloe-emodin, and the alkaloids tropine and tropinone. CAN samples showed high content of malic, citramalic, citraconic, erucic, and 3-dehydroquinic acids. CAN and PO samples contained high amounts of jasmonic, quinic, and 4-methoxycinnamic acids along with aloesin, tyramine, coumarin, and saponarin. Among the Brindisi samples, MM contained high amounts of limonene and α-linolenic acid. CA, E, and MM samples presented high amounts of eritrose-4-phosphate, glucose-1-phosphate, and fructosyl valine along with ginsenoside, proline, and ascorbic acid. These findings indicate that geographical origins and cultivation practices affect to different extents the metabolite profile of A. vera plants
An improved UPLC-MS/MS platform for quantitative analysis of glycerophosphoinositol in mammalian cells.
No full textThe glycerophosphoinositols constitute a class of biologically active lipid-derived mediators whose intracellular levels are modulated during physiological and pathological cell processes. Comprehensive assessment of the role of these compounds expands beyond the cellular biology of lipids and includes rapid and unambiguous measurement in cells and tissues. Here we describe a sensitive and simple liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for quantitative analysis of the most abundant among these phosphoinositide derivatives in mammalian cells, the glycerophosphoinositol (GroPIns). The method has been developed in mouse Raw 264.7 macrophages with limits of quantitation at 3 ng/ml. Validation on the same cell line showed excellent response in terms of linear dynamic range (from 3 to 3,000 ng/ml), intra-day and inter-day precision (coefficient of variation ≤ 7.10%) and accuracy (between 98.1 and 109.0%) in the range 10-320 ng/ml. As proof of concept, a simplified analytical platform based on this method and external calibration was also tested on four stimulated and unstimulated cell lines, including Raw 264.7 macrophages, Jurkat T-cells, A375MM melanoma cells and rat basophilic leukemia RBL-2H3 cells. The results indicate a wide variation in GroPIns levels among different cell lines and stimulation conditions, although the measurements were always in line with the literature. No significant matrix effects were observed thus indicating that the here proposed method can be of general use for similar determinations in cells of different origin
Laurel, Laurus nobilis L.: a review of its botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology
No full textLaurus nobilis L. (Lauraceae), commonly known as laurel, is an evergreen and edible tree that possess biological properties positively correlated with human health. It is a very popular plant known since ancient times in traditional medicine and considered a symbol of peace and sign of victory in military and sport competitions. Laurel is used as flavoring agent in kitchen for meat, fish, broths, and
vegetables. The plant shows a rich content of metabolites including proteins, free sugars, organic acids, PUFA and tocopherols and exhibit a biological potential with a wide range of bioactivity including antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. This review is aimed to contribute to the knowledge of the plant by providing a critical overview of the botanic characteristics, the traditional uses, the plant chemistry and the biological activitie
Vagiallene, a Rearranged C15 Acetogenin from Laurencia obtusa
No full textVagiallene (1), a rearranged C15 acetogenin with a molecular formula and a carbon skeleton unprecedented in natural products, was isolated as a trace constituent from the organic extract of the red alga Laurencia obtusa from Lefkada island. The planar structure and the relative configuration of 1 were established on the basis of extensive analysis of its spectroscopic data, while its absolute configuration was determined by comparison of its experimental and quantum-mechanically predicted electronic circular dichroism spectra
High Resolution LC-MSn Fragmentation Pattern of Palytoxin as Template to Gain New Insights into Ovatoxin-a Structure. The Key Role of Calcium in MS Behavior of Palytoxins
Full text linkPalytoxin is a potent marine toxin and one of the most complex natural compounds ever described. A number of compounds identified as palytoxin congeners (e.g., ovatoxins, mascarenotoxins, ostreocins, etc.) have not been yet structurally elucidated due to lack of pure material in quantities sufficient to an NMR-based structural investigation. In this study, the complex fragmentation pattern of palytoxin in its positive high resolution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectra (HR LC-MSn) was interpreted. Under the used conditions, the molecule underwent fragmentation at many sites of its backbone, and a large number of diagnostic fragment ions were identified. The natural product itself was used with no need for derivatization. Interestingly, most of the fragments contained calcium in their elemental formula. Evidence for palytoxin tendency to form adduct ions with calcium and other divalent cations in its mass spectra was obtained. Fragmentation pattern of palytoxin was used as template to gain detailed structural information on ovatoxin-a, the main toxin produced by Ostreopsis ovata, a benthic dinoflagellate that currently represents the major harmful algal bloom threat in the Mediterranean area. Either the regions or the specific sites where ovatoxin-a and palytoxin structurally differ have been identified
Exploring Dittrichia viscosa (L.) Greuter phytochemical diversity to explain its antimicrobial, nematicidal and insecticidal activity
No full textDittrichia viscosa is a perennial small shrub belonging to the Compositae family (Asteraceae) widespread in the Mediterranean basin. This plant has been extensively used in traditional medicine since the Roman times as reported by the Roman Naturalist Gaius Plinius Secundus. Nowadays, many studies about chemical composition and biological activity of D. viscosa are available. Chemical analyses of plant extracts revealed the presence of several metabolites belonging to different classes of natural products such as sesquiterpenes, flavonoids and caffeic acids. In addition, the essential oil of D. viscosa is rich in volatile short chain metabolites with aldehydes, alcohols and esters functional groups, as well as long chain fatty acids esters and alkyls. Some of these compounds are known for their biological activities against a wide range of micro- and macroorganisms. Scientific evidence reported that derivates of caffeic acids and flavonoids were the compounds mainly related to inhibition of bacterial and fungal growth, whereas sesquiterpene lactones and eudesmane sesquiterpenes were most active against nematodes, mites, insects and parasitic plants. In this paper, information about the phytochemical composition and the biological activity of D. viscosa against bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, insect and parasitic plants have been summarized
Stereochemical Studies on Ovatoxin-a
No full textOvatoxin-a is the main toxin produced by Ostreopsis ovata, a benthic dinoflagellate that has bloomed massively across the Mediterranean basin over the past years, inflicting both human and environmental suffering. Ovatoxin-a has recently been isolated from cultures of O. ovata and structurally identified as an analogue of palytoxin: in comparison with palytoxin, ovatoxin-a lacks three hydroxy groups at the 17-, 44- and 64-positions, but features an extra hydroxy functionality at the 42-position. Herein we report on the NMR-based elucidation of the stereochemistry of ovatoxin-a, which includes 7 stereogenic double bonds and 62 asymmetric carbon atoms. Understanding the full stereochemistry of ovatoxin-a is a step towards the elucidation of its mechanism of action on a molecular level
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