Azadirachta indica (Neem) and Berberis aristata (Indian Barberry)
Azamal Husen in Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees of Potential Medicinal Benefits, 2022
The Berberis have a main constituent of alkaloid, i.e., berberine, in its roots and wood. This plant contains more alkaloids in the roots, namely, karachine and taxalamine. Along with these two alkaloids, roots contain berbamine, berberine, oxycanthine, epiberberine, palmatine, dapehydrocaroline, isotetrandrine, jatrorhizine and columbamine, dihyrokarachine, oxyberberine, and aromoline (Chatterjiee, 1951; Saied et al., 2007). The plant also contains oxyberberine, berbamine, aromoline, karachine, palmatine, oxyacanthine, and taxilamine (Figure 18.4) (Ambastha, 1988). Another four alkaloids, namely, pakistanine, 1-O methyl pakistanine, pseudopalmatine chloride, and pseudoberberine chloride have also been isolated from Indian barberry (Bhakuni et al., 1968; Lect et al., 1983). The Berberis plant contains palamatine, isoquinoline alkaloid (secobisbenzlisoquinoline) (Chakarvarti et al., 1950; Ray and Roy, 1941). The concentration of berberine in the roots and stems is affected by potassium and the moisture content of soil, and varies depending on altitude (Andola et al., 2010).Major phytoconstituents in Berberis aristata.
Selected Antimalarial Plants
Woon-Chien Teng, Ho Han Kiat, Rossarin Suwanarusk, Hwee-Ling Koh in Medicinal Plants and Malaria, 2016
Several alkaloids in the plant are found to have antimalarial activity (berberine, allocryptopine, and protopine, with IC50 [μg/ml] against W2 [chloroquine-resistant P. falciparum strain] in vitro of 0.32, 0.32, and 1.46, respectively) (Avello 2009). However, in some animal models, berberine was found to have poor oral absorption. Protopine and allocryptopine demonstrated good selectivity for Plasmodium, with low cytotoxicities. Other compounds include dehydrocorydalmine, jatrorrhizine, columbamine, and oxyberberine from the whole plant (Singh et al. 2010) and rotomexicine, mexitin, 8-methoxydihydrosanguinarine, 13-oxoprotopine, rutin, and quercetrin from the aerial parts of the methanol extract of the plant (Singh, Pandey, and Singh 2012).
Inhibiting Insulin Resistance and Accumulation of Triglycerides and Cholesterol in the Liver
Christophe Wiart in Medicinal Plants in Asia for Metabolic Syndrome, 2017
Evidence has been provided to demonstrate that berberine, coptisine, columbamine, and jatrorrhizine present in the rhizome of Coptis chinensis Franch. inhibit the synthesis of triglycerides and cholesterol in hepatocytes in vitro. Berberine inhibited the synthesis of cholesterol and triglycerides in HepG2 cells with an IC50 value equal to approximately 15 µg/mL in vitro,69 and this effect was later confirmed by Fan et al.70 and Cao et al.71 with increased expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, which are associated with fatty acid oxidation. Berberine induced the expression of low-density lipoprotein receptor in HepG2 cells at dose of 20 µg/mL via with phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1/2.72 From this plant columbamine at a concentration of 15 µM reduced triglyceride contents in Hep G2 cells by 35% with concomitant phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase as potently as berberine, and consequently both alkaloids repressed the expression fatty acid synthetase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, and glycerol-3-phosphate-acyltransferase, which are associated with triglyceride synthesis and of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA reductase, which catalyzes the synthesis of cholesterol.71 Columbamine also increased the gene expression of and medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase, but had no effects on carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1.71
Columbamine suppresses proliferation and invasion of melanoma cell A375 via HSP90-mediated STAT3 activation
Published in Journal of Receptors and Signal Transduction, 2021
Tao Yang, Liuliu Wei, Xiang Ma, Huan Ke
Columbamine, first found in calumba, is a tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloid extracted from many Chinese herbals, such as Rhizoma Coptidis [12,13]. Many previous studies have shown that columbamine could play roles in anti-inflammation, relieving pain, anti-oxidant, antiplasmodial and reducing blood glucose [14–17]. Recent publications also reveal that columbamine has some anti-tumor effects. For example, columbamine accelerated cell apoptosis and repressed cell migration and invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma through inactivation of PI3K/AKT, p38 and ERK1/2 MAPKs signaling pathways [12]. In colon cancer, columbamine inhibited cell growth and migration via suppression of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway [13]. However, the effects of columbamine on melanoma are still unknown. Therefore, the goal of this study is to explore the effects of columbamine in melanoma cells and the signaling pathway involved.
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