oleanane and hederagenin

Saponins isolated from a number of plants possess a broad spectrum of biological and pharmacological activities by using in vitro and in vivo bioassays. The recent investigations and findings in biological activity studies of saponins have mostly focused on immunomodulatory, hemolytic and cytotoxic properties.. Considering the great potential of saponins as bioactive agents, we investigated the cytotoxic, hemolytic and immunomodulatory activities of nineteen triterpenoid saponins from the aerial parts of eight Cephalaria species from Turkey.. The isolated oleanane type saponins from Cephalaria species were tested for their hemolytic, cytotoxic and immunomodulatory activities through anin vitro cell based assay systems.. HeLa, A549, and a normal cell line HEK293 were used for testing cytotoxicity using MTT method. Immunomodulatory activity was performed in stimulated whole blood cells by PMA plus ionomycin. Hemolytic activity was assessed on human erythrocytes.. Aristatoside C (3) and davisianoside B (16) displayed significant inhibitory effects on cancerous A549 and HeLa cells, and non-cancerous HEK293 cells with IC. In this study, almost all saponins with oleanolic acid as aglycones exhibited significant hemolysis, monodesmosidic saponins with hederagenin as aglycone were the most active compounds against lung cancer cells with greater activity than standard commercial chemotherapy drug doxorubicin and some of the hederagenin type saponins induced remarkable IL-1β secretion.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; Dipsacaceae; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; HEK293 Cells; HeLa Cells; Hemolysis; Hemolytic Agents; Humans; Immunologic Factors; Oleanolic Acid; Saponins; Triterpenes; Turkey

Components previously reported from Cyclocarya paliurus include the oleananes cyclocaric acids A and B, with cyclocaric acid A possessing an oxetane ring. Isolation of cyclocaric acid A from the plant extract and comparison to the literature report show that the compound originally reported as cyclocaric acid A is, in fact, hederagenin. This was confirmed by independent synthesis of the oxetane and indicates that cyclocaric acid A may not actually be a natural product.

Topics: Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Juglandaceae; Molecular Structure; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; Oleanolic Acid