benzofurans and hopeaphenol

Bacterial infections continue to threaten humankind and the rapid spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria is alarming. Current antibiotics target essential bacterial processes and thereby apply a strong selective pressure on pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria alike. One alternative strategy is to block bacterial virulence systems that are essential for the ability to cause disease but not for general bacterial viability. We have previously show that the plant natural product (-)-hopeaphenol blocks the type III secretion system (T3SS) in the Gram-negative pathogens Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. (-)-Hopeaphenol is a resveratrol tetramer and in the present study we explore various resveratrol dimers, including partial structures of (-)-hopeaphenol, as T3SS inhibitors. To allow rapid and efficient assessment of T3SS inhibition in P. aeruginosa, we developed a new screening method by using a green fluorescent protein reporter under the control of the ExoS promoter. Using a panel of assays we showed that compounds with a benzofuran core structure i.e. viniferifuran, dehydroampelopsin B, anigopreissin A, dehydro-δ-viniferin and resveratrol-piceatannol hybrid displayed significant to moderate activities towards the T3SS in Y. pseudotuberculosis and P. aeruginosa.

Topics: Anti-Bacterial Agents; Benzofurans; Drug Discovery; Flavonoids; Genes, Reporter; Green Fluorescent Proteins; Phenols; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Resveratrol; Stilbenes; Type III Secretion Systems; Virulence; Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

Ethanol extracts (Et) from the stem (S) and leaf (L) of Vitis thunbergii var. taiwaniana (VTT) were used to investigate yeast α-glucosidase and porcine kidney dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory activities. Both VTT-Et showed complete α-glucosidase inhibition at 0.1 mg/mL; VTT-S-Et and VTT-L-Et showed 26 and 11% DPP-IV inhibition, respectively, at 0.5 mg/mL. The VTT-Et interventions (20 and 50 mg/kg) resulted in improvements in impaired glucose tolerance of diet-induced obese rats. (+)-Hopeaphenol, (+)-vitisin A, and (-)-vitisin B were isolated from the ethyl acetate fractions of S-Et and showed yeast α-glucosidase inhibition (IC50 = 18.30, 1.22, and 1.02 μM) and porcine kidney DPP-IV inhibition (IC50 = 401, 90.75, and 15.3 μM) compared to acarbose (6.39 mM) and sitagliptin (47.35 nM), respectively. Both (+)-vitisin A and (-)-vitisin B showed mixed noncompetitive inhibition against yeast α-glucosidase and porcine kidney DPP-IV, respectively. These results proposed that VTT extracts might through inhibitions against α-glucosidase and DPP-IV improve the impaired glucose tolerance in diet-induced obese rats.

Topics: alpha-Glucosidases; Animals; Benzofurans; Dipeptidyl Peptidase 4; Dipeptidyl-Peptidase IV Inhibitors; Glucose Intolerance; Glycoside Hydrolase Inhibitors; Kinetics; Male; Obesity; Phenols; Plant Extracts; Plant Leaves; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Stilbenes; Swine; Vitis

The supply of (-)-hopeaphenol (1) was achieved via enzymatic biotransformation in order to provide material for preclinical investigation. High-throughput screening of a prefractionated natural product library aimed to identify compounds that inhibit the bacterial virulence type III secretion system (T3SS) identified several fractions derived from two Papua New Guinean Anisoptera species, showing activity against Yersinia pseudotuberculosis outer proteins E and H (YopE and YopH). Bioassay-directed isolation from the leaves of A. thurifera, and similarly A. polyandra, resulted in three known resveratrol tetramers, (-)-hopeaphenol (1), vatalbinoside A (2), and vaticanol B (3). Compounds 1-3 displayed IC50 values of 8.8, 12.5, and 9.9 μM in a luminescent reporter-gene assay (YopE) and IC50 values of 2.9, 4.5, and 3.3 μM in an enzyme-based YopH assay, respectively, which suggested that they could potentially act against the T3SS in Yersinia. The structures of 1-3 were confirmed through a combination of spectrometric, chemical methods, and single-crystal X-ray structure determinations of the natural product 1 and the permethyl ether analogue of 3. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the β-glycoside 2 to the aglycone 1 was achieved through biotransformation using the endogenous leaf enzymes. This significantly enhanced the yield of the target bioactive natural product from 0.08% to 1.3% and facilitates ADMET studies of (-)-hopeaphenol (1).

Topics: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Benzofurans; Dipterocarpaceae; Heterocyclic Compounds, 4 or More Rings; Inhibitory Concentration 50; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Odonata; Papua New Guinea; Phenols; Rainforest; Resveratrol; Stilbenes; Yersinia pseudotuberculosis

Grapevine canes are rich in resveratrol and its complex derivatives. These compounds have many biological activities and are needed mainly for health purposes. Canes, which are often wasted, can be used to produce these high-value compounds at low cost. We studied sixteen Vitis vinifera L. cultivars among the most widely cultivated ones worldwide. Polyphenols were extracted from their canes and identified by liquid chromatography-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We accurately determined the content of E-ε-viniferin, E-resveratrol, E-piceatannol, and vitisin B and, for the first time, that of hopeaphenol and miyabenol C. The canes did not contain these major stilbene compounds in similar proportions, and their abundance and order of abundance varied according to the cultivar. For instance, Pinot noir has very high levels of E-resveratrol and E-ε-viniferin; Gewurztraminer has very high levels of vitisin B, and Carignan and Riesling have very high levels of hopeaphenol. These findings suggest that the right cultivar should be used to obtain the highest yield of a polyphenol of interest.

Topics: Benzofurans; Chromatography, Liquid; Phenols; Plant Stems; Polyphenols; Resveratrol; Species Specificity; Stilbenes; Vitis

Resveratrol, piceatannol, ε-viniferin, r-viniferin, r2-viniferin, and hopeaphenol are naturally occurring polyphenols, associated with potentially beneficial health effects. We developed a rapid liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (LC-UV) method, allowing for the simultaneous determination of these six compounds in biological samples in less than 2.5 min with standard LC equipment. Using this method for the assessment of the stability of the six analytes, we demonstrated that all stilbene polyphenols disappear rapidly in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (e.g., half-life of resveratrol of 1 h). In contrast, the tetramer hopeaphenol was stable over the maximum incubation time of 72 h. In incubations with liver microsomes, ε-viniferin was rapidly glucuronidated, although to a lower extent than resveratrol. Hopeaphenol was not glucuronidated at all. Given that glucuronidation is the major metabolic pathway for polyphenols, hopeaphenol might exhibit significantly different pharmacokinetic properties than other polyphenols. When chemical and metabolic stability as well as biological activity of hopeaphenol are taken together, these findings warrant further investigation of this polyphenol.

Topics: Benzofurans; Chromatography, Liquid; Drug Stability; Glucuronides; Humans; Microsomes, Liver; Molecular Structure; Phenols; Polyphenols; Resveratrol; Stilbenes

An activity-guided isolation of bioactive stilbenes has been carried out with the grapevine-shoot extract Vineatrol 30. After hexane precipitation of the polymeric constituents, the stilbene mixture was separated on a preparative scale using low-speed rotary countercurrent chromatography (LSRCCC). The antiproliferative activity of the separated LSRCCC fractions was then screened in the human cancer cell line A-431, and trans-resveratrol, trans-ε-viniferin, r-2-viniferin, hopeaphenol, and miyabenol C were identified as active principles. In addition, a new class of stilbene derivatives, which exhibit a γ-lactam ring structure and exert a weak growth-inhibiting activity in A-431 cells, has been identified.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Benzofurans; Cell Line, Tumor; Chemical Fractionation; Countercurrent Distribution; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Humans; Molecular Structure; Phenols; Plant Shoots; Resveratrol; Stilbenes; Vitis

It has been reported that resveratrol (trans-3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) from Vitis plants has various cardioprotective effects. Vitis plants also include various resveratrol tetramers. The aim of our study is to clarify the pharmacological properties of resveratrol tetramers. We isolated two resveratrol tetramers as major products of Vitis plants. One is vitisin A, a complex of two resveratrol dimers, (+)-epsilon-viniferin and ampelopsin B, and the other is hopeaphenol, composed of 2 mol ampelopsin B. Vitisin A (30-300 nM) unexpectedly dose-dependently facilitated swelling and depolarization of mitochondria and cytochrome c release from mitochondria, which are indices of cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Furthermore, vitisin A induced apoptosis in the primary culture of adult rat ventricular myocytes. On the other hand, hopeaphenol (1-10 microM) dose-dependently inhibited Ca(2+) (30 microM)-induced mitochondrial depolarization and cytochrome c release from mitochondria but had not affected mitochondrial swelling. Moreover, hopeaphenol inhibited vitisin A-induced apoptosis. In structural and functional studies, we further confirmed that vitisin B, one of the resveratrol tetramers having (+)-epsilon-viniferin unit, induces mitochondrial swelling and cytochrome c release from mitochondria like vitisin A and that vitisifuran A, one of the resveratrol tetramers having the ampelopsin B unit, inhibits Ca(2+)-induced cytochrome c release from mitochondria like hopeaphenol. These results show that resveratrol tetramers have at least two opposite effects on cardiomyocytes; the one having the (+)-epsilon-viniferin unit induces cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and the other having ampelopsin B but not (+)-epsilon-viniferin unit inhibits it.

Topics: Animals; Antioxidants; Apoptosis; Benzofurans; Calcium; Cytochromes c; Heart; Intracellular Membranes; Membrane Potentials; Mitochondria, Heart; Mitochondrial Swelling; Myocardium; Myocytes, Cardiac; Phenols; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Resveratrol; Stilbenes