[Research progress on chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Viola plants].

There are 500 species of Viola(Violaceae) worldwide, among which 111 species are widely distributed in China and have a long medicinal history and wide varieties. According to the authors' statistics, a total of 410 compounds have been isolated and identified from plants of this genus, including flavonoids, terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, organic acids, nitrogenous compounds, sterols, saccharides and their derivatives, volatile oils and cyclotides. The medicinal materials from these plants boast anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-oxidant and anti-tumor activities. This study systematically reviewed the chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Viola plants to provide a basis for further research and clinical application.

Application of Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with LTQ-Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry for the Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Polygonum multiflorum Thumb. and Its Processed Products.

In order to quickly and simultaneously obtain the chemical profiles and control the quality of the root of Polygonum multiflorum Thumb. and its processed form, a rapid qualitative and quantitative method, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization-linear ion trap-Orbitrap hybrid mass spectrometry (UHPLC-LTQ-Orbitrap MS(n)) has been developed. The analysis was performed within 10 min on an AcQuity UPLC™ BEH C18 column with a gradient elution of 0.1% formic acid-acetonitrile at flow rate of 400 µL/min. According to the fragmentation mechanism and high resolution MS(n) data, a diagnostic ion searching strategy was used for rapid and tentative identification of main phenolic components and 23 compounds were simultaneously identified or tentatively characterized. The difference in chemical profiles between P. multiflorum and its processed preparation were observed by comparing the ions abundances of main constituents in the MS spectra and significant changes of eight metabolite biomarkers were detected in the P. multiflorum samples and their preparations. In addition, four of the representative phenols, namely gallic acid, trans-2,3,5,4'-tetra-hydroxystilbene-2-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside, emodin and emodin-8-O-ß-d-glucopyranoside were quantified by the validated UHPLC-MS/MS method. These phenols are considered to be major bioactive constituents in P. multiflorum, and are generally regarded as the index for quality assessment of this herb. The method was successfully used to quantify 10 batches of P. multiflorum and 10 batches of processed P. multiflorum. The results demonstrated that the method is simple, rapid, and suitable for the discrimination and quality control of this traditional Chinese herb.

A diterpenoid compound, excisanin A, inhibits the invasive behavior of breast cancer cells by modulating the integrin ß1/FAK/PI3K/AKT/ß-catenin signaling.

AIM: Excisanin A, a diterpenoid compound purified from Isodon macrocalyxin D, has anti-cancer properties with little toxicity. In this study, the anti-invasive effects of excisanin A on breast cancer cells and its molecular mechanism of action were investigated. MAIN METHODS: MTT, wound healing, transwell chamber and cell adhesion assays were utilized to investigate the effects of excisanin A on MDA-MB-231 and SKBR3 cells. Western blotting, real-time PCR, RNA interference and luciferase reporter assays were employed to determine the molecular mechanism of action of excisanin A. KEY FINDINGS: Treating MDA-MB-231 and SKBR3 cells with 10-40µM excisanin A significantly inhibited cell migration and invasion and suppressed the mRNA and protein levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in a dose-dependent manner. Excisanin A efficiently abolished integrin ß1 expression and reduced the phosphorylation of the downstream kinases focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and Src. Excisanin A inhibited the phosphorylation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), AKT and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3ß) and down-regulated ß-catenin expression and the luciferase activity of the transcription factor LEF-1. Moreover, treating breast cancer cells with siRNA targeting integrin ß1 inhibited cell invasion and migration. SIGNIFICANCE: These results demonstrated that excisanin A inhibited invasion by suppressing MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression; the integrin ß1/FAK/PI3K/AKT/ß-catenin signaling pathway was involved in this process. Therefore, excisanin A might be a potential anti-metastatic chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of breast cancer.

Cytotoxic ent-kaurane diterpenoids from Isodon nervosus.

Four new ent-kaurane diterpenoids, rabdonervosins G-J (1-4, resp.), were isolated from the leaves and stems of Isodon nervosus. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analyses, including 1D-, 2D-NMR and HR mass spectra. Compound 2 showed potent cytotoxicity against the HepG2 and PC-9/ZD cell lines with IC50 values of 2.36 and 6.07 µM, respectively, and compound 3 exhibited cytotoxicity against the HepG2 and CNE2 cell lines with IC50 values of 8.64 and 9.77 µM, respectively.

A novel sesquiterpene Hirsutanol A induces autophagical cell death in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells by increasing reactive oxygen species.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Hirsutanol A is a novel sesquiterpene compound purified from fungus chondrostereum sp in Sarcophyton tortuosum. Its pharmacologic effect has not been reported yet. This study aimed to investigate cytotoxic effect of Hirsutanol A on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and its mechanism. METHODS: Hep3B cells were treated with different concentrations of Hirsutanol A. Cell proliferation was detected by MTT assay. The protein expression of LC3 was determined by Western blot. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was monitored by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Hirsutanol A significantly inhibited proliferation of Hep3B cells with 50% inhibition concentrations (IC50) of 14.54, 6.71, and 3.59 micromol/L when exposed to Hirsutanol A for 24, 48, and 72 h, respectively. Incubation of Hep3B cells with Hirsutanol A markedly increased the level of ROS and the autophagy marker MAP-LC3 conversion from type I to type II. Pre-incubation with an antioxidant N-acetyl cystein (NAC) decreased the level of ROS, and reduced MAP-LC3 I-II conversion, and suppressed cell death. Blocking autophagy with a specific autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA), the cytotoxic effect of this compound was attenuated. CONCLUSION: Hirsutanol A has potent cytotoxic effect, and can induce autophagic cell death via increasing ROS production.

ExcisaninA, a diterpenoid compound purified from Isodon MacrocalyxinD, induces tumor cells apoptosis and suppresses tumor growth through inhibition of PKB/AKT kinase activity and blockade of its signal pathway.

Isodon diterpenoids have received considerable phytochemical and biological attention for their strong antitumor activity with low toxicity. In this study, ExcisaninA, a diterpenoid compound purified from Isodon MacrocalyxinD, was tested on human Hep3B and MDA-MB-453 cell lines and Hep3B xenograft models. The results showed ExcisaninA could inhibit the proliferation of Hep3B and MDA-MB-453 cells via induction of apoptosis, with the evidence of increasing AnnexinV-positive cells and characteristic morphologic changes of apoptosis in the nucleus. Also, ExcisaninA sensitized Hep3B cells to 5-fluorouracil treatment or MDA-MB-453 cells to ADM treatment in vitro. In Hep3B xenograft models, ExcisaninA at 20 mg/kg/d remarkably decreased the xenograft tumor size and induced tumor cells apoptosis using transferase-mediated FITC-12-dUTP nick-end labeling assay. More importantly, we found that ExcisaninA could inhibit AKT activity and block its signal pathway in vitro and in vivo. And treatment with ExcisaninA significantly reduced the number of viable cells in Hep3B/myr-AKT1 cells more than that in control cells. Together, ExcisaninA might be a potent inhibitor of AKT signaling pathway in tumor cells. These data provide validation for the development of ExcisaninA to treat cancers displaying elevated levels of AKT.