China
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Biocatalyzed Synthesis of Antidiabetic Drugs
Published in Peter Grunwald, Pharmaceutical Biocatalysis, 2019
Some examples of each kind are shown in Fig. 11.39: Thus, polyhydroxylated piperidine 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) 108, isolated from the roots of mulberry trees, or pyrrolidine 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol 109, commonly known as DMDP, found in many plants and microorganisms, have been both studied for their antihyperglycemic properties (Horne et al., 2011). Indolizidine 110 is the toxic alkaloid castanospermine, a potent inhibitor of lysosomal α-glucosidase (Lahiri et al., 2013). DNJ, DMDP and castanospermine also inhibit glycoprotein processing enzymes to varying degrees (Asano et al., 2000). Casuarine 111 is an example of a pyrrolizidine, which was also isolated from plants and have been used in the treatment of breast cancer, diabetes, and bacterial infections (Wardrop and Waidyarachchi, 2010). Finally, Calystegine A3112 belongs to nortropane-type alkaloids possessing glycosidase inhibitory activity (Asano et al., 2000).
Handbook of Phytochemical Constituents of GRAS Herbs and Other Economic Plants
Published in James A. Duke, Handbook of Phytochemical Constituents of GRAS Herbs and Other Economic Plants, 2017
“Moreton Bay Chestnut” “Black Bean”BAYIN WD HHBBAYOGENIN WD HHBCASTANOGENIN SD 402/CASTANOSPERMINE 2–3,000 SD 402/404/1,7ALPHA-DIEPIALEXINE PL PC29:1117,7ALPHA-DIEPIALEXINE PL PC29:1116-EPICASTANOSPERMINE SD 404/FAT 7,000 SD 402/FIBER 5,000 SD 402/MEDICAGENIC-ACID SD HHBPROTEIN 32,000 SD 402/SAPONIN 72,300 SD HHBSAPONIN LFWOISAPONIN WDWBBSTARCH SD WOI
Introduction
Published in James Alan Duke, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary, 2018
James Alan Duke, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez
Quinine is one of the more amazing stories in Latin America’s pharmacopoeia. The quinine tree, with its dozens of alkaloids, was here before the Indian, long before Columbus, and smallpox and malaria. The history of the continent might have been different had quinine cured smallpox. Instead smallpox decimated the Indians, killing millions, before malaria arrived, perhaps from Africa. The malaria organism was all but controlled by early efforts with quinine. Gradually the malaria organism developed a tolerance for quinine, and we switched to chloroquine and other synthetics and semisynthetics. Gradually the plasmodium developed a tolerance for these as well. WHO-sponsored studies on “qing hao” (Artemisiaannua) and its derivatives, provided the answer, albeit temporary, to chloroquine-resistant malaria. I predicted that, if natural artemisinin or its semisynthetic derivatives proved out for chloroquine-resistant malaria, ten or twenty years later, the malaria organism would evolve resistance to the “qing hao” compounds. We would then be faced with artemisinin-resistant malaria, and go back to Mother Nature’s “Farmacy”, the forest, again, hat in hand, seeking a drug for artemisinin-resistant malaria. (I’m told that artemisinin-resistant malaria has already evolved.) This semicircular fable should impress upon us the importance of the forest and biodiversity. If we lose half our species, we cut our odds for finding the new drug in half. Worse! The species most likely to be lost are those least likely to have been studied. New strains of many of our older diseases, measles, tuberculosis, etc., keep cropping up, requiring new medicines. We didn’t even know AIDS twenty-five years ago. Each HIV virus is said to be unlike its parent, each generation evolving. Amazonian Alexa contains castanospermine, Abrus contains glycyrrhizin, Capsicum contains caffeic acid, Momordica contains momordicin, Phytolacca contains phytolaccin, and Ricinus contains ricin, to name a few compounds occurring in native or introduced Amazonian species that may possibly help in treating AIDS. Among the thousands of species that have not been analyzed are thousands of unknown chemicals, many evolved to protect the plants from pathogens. These chemicals may help us in our constant struggle with our constantly evolving pathogens. The lower the phytodiversity, the lower our chances of finding new remedies for the newly evolving scourges of mankind. Preservation of biodiversity is self preservation.
Murine models of dengue virus infection for novel drug discovery
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2022
Alana B. Byrne, Cybele C. García, Elsa B. Damonte, Laura B. Talarico
Castanospermine is a natural alkaloid which can be obtained from the black bean or Moreton Bay chestnut tree (Castanospermum australae). This compound is soluble in water and can be isolated in large quantity through a simple purification scheme. Studies performed using castanospermine against DENV-2 showed that this compound inhibited the production of infectious virus in the Huh-7 human hepatoma cell line and in BHK-21 cells [101–105]. In addition, it prevented the mortality of A/J mice after a 10 days’ treatment with doses ranging from 10 to 250 mg/kg of body weight per day, with significantly effective survival rate compared to the vehicle. In contrast, doses higher than 250 mg/kg generated weight loss, diarrhea and other side effects, probably due to gastrointestinal toxicity [102].
Metabolomic Profile in the Aqueous Humor of Congenital Ectopia Lentis
Published in Current Eye Research, 2023
Liyan Liu, Yiqing Li, Dongwei Guo, Huiwen Ye, Haotian Qi, Bin Zou, Danying Zheng, Guangming Jin
We performed ROC analysis to select the potential biomarkers for discrimination and assessed the diagnostic performances. ROC analysis showed that Alanyl-Arginine (AUC: 0.905, sensitivity: 86.4%, specificity: 90.9%), Pelargonidin (0.921, 86.4%, 95.5%), Mimosine (0.917, 81.8%, 95.5%), Petunidin (0.917, 86.4%, 95.5%), Castanospermine (0.913, 86.4%, 95.5%), Acetyl-d-carnitine (0.909, 86.4%, 90.9%), Glycerol 1-propanoates diacetate (0.926, 86.4%, 95.5%) and N-(2-Hydroxyethyl)-iminodiacetic acid (0.903, 77.3%, 95.5%) could effectively distinguish patients with CEL from controls (Figure 5).