The Role of Plant-Based Natural Compounds in Inflammation
Namrita Lall in Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
From Boswellia sp. frankincense. Verhoff et al. (2014) isolated other tetracyclic and pentacyclic triterpene acids and studied their ability to inhibit COXs and mPGES-1. Among these acids belonged tirucallic, lupeolic and roburic acids. From 13 isolated compounds, none of the compounds inhibited COXs; however, seven showed potent inhibition of mPGES-1 with IC50 values ranging from 0.4–1.2 µM, and two were moderately active with IC50 values of 3 µM and 8.5 µM. The most active compounds were 3α-acetoxy-8,24-dienetirucallic acid and 3α-acetoxy-7,24-dienetirucallic acid (IC50 = 0.4 µM). Generally, tirucallic acids were the most potent, while roburic and lupeolic acids were mostly inactive except for 4,(23)-dihydro-11-keto-roburic acid and 3-O-acetyl-28-hydroxylupeolic acid, which inhibited mPGES-1 with IC50 values of 1.0 µM and 0.9 µM, respectively (Verhoff et al., 2014). Previously, 3-O-acetyl-28-hydroxylupeolic acid was found to inhibit 5-LOX in cell-free as well as cell-based assays with IC50 values of 8.3 µM and 2.3–3.4 µM, respectively. Other lupeolic acids, those missing 28-hydroxyl, were found to be inactive (Verhoff et al., 2012). In the case of tirucallic acids, inhibition of 5-LOX by some of these compounds (e.g., 3-oxo-tirucallic acid) was reported, while for others, it remains to be elucidated (Koeberle and Werz, 2018; Boden et al., 2001).
Types of Raw Incense
Kerry Hughes in The Incense Bible, 2014
Origin: Several species of Boswellia provide the incense product called frankincense. The botanical knowledge of the species of Boswellia providing frankincense is still inadequate, and several of the species are thought to have gone extinct or nearly extinct. In ancient times, B. papyrifera was thought to be mainly used for deriving frankincense, and in classical times it was thought to be B. sacra, but today frankincense is derived mostly from B. carteri, B. frereana, and B. serrata (Tucker, 1986). Frankincense species are cultivated in India and Africa, especially Somalia and Ethiopia.
Miscellaneous Herbal Psychotropic Agents
Ethan Russo in Handbook of Psychotropic Herbs, 2015
The analgesic and sedative effects of frankincense, Boswellia serrata Roxb. Burseraceae, have been examined (Menon and Kar, 1971) by ip injection in rats. Higher doses, 300 mg/kg, produced sedation comparable to 7.5 mg/kg of chlorpromazine hydrochloride (Thorazine). Sedative effects of boswellia were partially blocked by nalorphine (an opiate antagonist), while analgesic effects were not. Secobarbitone (barbiturate) sleep times were increased by boswellia in moderate doses (p ≺ 0.01) and high doses (p ≺ 0.001). These results may serve to support the touted benefits of frankincense as an aid to meditation.
Frankincense diterpenes as a bio-source for drug discovery
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2022
Hidayat Hussain, Luay Rashan, Uzma Hassan, Muzaffar Abbas, Faruck L. Hakkim, Ivan R. Green
Frankincense is essentially a resin derived from the tree of the genus Boswellia and mainly from five species, i.e. B. carterii, B. serrata, B. papyrifera, B. sacra, and B. frerana. The Boswellia genus, incorporating over 30 species out of which 16 grow in tropical Africa and Asia [2]. Chemical investigation of frankincense resin has revealed that it comprises over 200 different natural products, including penta- and tetracyclic triterpenoids, diterpenoids, polyphenols, essential oils, and tannins [2,9–15]. Terpenes are considered to be one of the most structurally diverse groups among the spectrum of natural products. Furthermore, over 55,000 terpenes have been reported as isolated from various natural sources featured intriguing chemical diversity along with interesting biological properties. Among the terpenes, diterpenes are one of the largest groups of secondary metabolites with over 18,000 molecules derived from GGPP (E,E,E-geranylgeranyl diphosphate). Moreover, these compounds can be classified according to their biogenesis and over 126 different carbon skeletons have been reported to date [16]. Quite recently, Al-Harrasi et al. [17] published a review about the cembrane diterpenoids from the Boswellia species but their focus was more on the chemistry rather on their biology. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of detailed biological investigations of frankincense diterpenoids (cembrane and prenylaromadendrane-type diterpenes).
The effects of Olibanum on oxidative stress indicators, cytokines, brain derived neurotrophic factor and memory in lipopolysaccharide challenged rats
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Narges Marefati, Farimah Beheshti, Amin Mokhtari-Zaer, Mohammad Naser Shafei, Hossein Salmani, Hamid Reza Sadeghnia, Mahmoud Hosseini
Boswellia serrata (B. serrata) from Burseracea family, is identified as Gajabhakshya in Sanskrit (Upaganlawar and Ghule 2009). This plant is a tree with a moderate height, which is cultivated in many countries with dry hills like Arabia, Eastern Africa, and Northwest India (Kimmatkar et al.2003, Upaganlawar and Ghule 2009, Hosseini-Sharifabad and Esfandiari 2015). Since ancient times, the therapeutic properties of dried resinous gum of this plant have been known. The resin obtained from the bark of trees is known as Frankincense (Morikawa et al.2017), Olibanum, Guggul, or incense (Etzel 1996, Kimmatkar et al.2003, Camarda et al.2007a). The traditional anti-inflammatory therapeutic usage of Boswellia Serrata in the past had led to efforts to identify the effective compounds of this plant (Moussaieff and Mechoulam 2009). More than 200 constituents have been known in Boswellia Serrata resin (Camarda et al.2007a) that can be responsible for therapeutic properties in various inflammatory disease like rheumatoid arthritis (Etzel 1996), carcinogenic tumors (Mukerji et al.1970), inflammatory bowel disease (IBS), bronchial asthma (Qurishi et al.2010) osteoarthritis (Kimmatkar et al.2003), chronic colitis (Gupta et al.2001) and leukemia (Shao et al.1998).
Boswellic acids: privileged structures to develop lead compounds for anticancer drug discovery
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2021
Hidayat Hussain, Iftikhar Ali, Daijie Wang, Faruck L. Hakkim, Bernhard Westermann, Luay Rashan, Ishtiaq Ahmed, Ivan R. Green
Literature revealed that Baer [35] initiated the chemical investigations of frankincense in 1788. A century later Tschirch and Halbey published some further studies on BAs in 1898 and 1900 [36–39]. Normally these researchers divided the whole frankincense extract into neutral and acidic fractions and after various purification steps they isolated a raw product which they described as ‘Boswellic Acid.’ Although the exact chemical structure was not known at that time, they proposed the chemical formula to be C32H52O4. After a further three decades, Winterstein and Stein [40] showed that Tschirch and Halbey’s raw product comprised of mixture of four BAs viz., α-BA, ß-BA, A-α-BA, and A-ß-BA. Additionally, they purified these four BAs but were unable to elucidate their chemical structures. However, they did propose the correct chemical formula to be C32H50O4.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Aroma Compound
- Boswellia Serrata
- Boswellic Acid
- Diterpene
- Gum Arabic
- Resin
- Sesquiterpene
- Terpene
- Species
- Boswellia Sacra