Nonlinear molecular dynamics of quercetin in Gynocardia odorata and Diospyros malabarica fruits: Its mechanistic role in hepatoprotection.

Liver performs number of critical physiological functions in human system. Intoxication of liver leads to accumulation of free radicals that eventually cause damage, fibrosis, cirrhosis and cancer. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) belongs to hepatotoxin is converted to a highly reactive free radical by cytochrome P450 enzymes that causes liver damage. Plant extracts derived quercetin has substantial role in hepatoprotection. This study highlights the possible mechanism by which quercetin plays significant role in hepatoprotection. HPLC analysis revealed the abundance of quercetin in the fruit extracts of Gynocardia odorata and Diospyros malabarica, were isolated, purified and subjected to liver function analysis on Wistar rats. Post quercetin treatment improved liver function parameters in the hepatotoxic Wistar rats by augmenting bilirubin content, SGOT and SGPT activity. Gene expression profile of quercetin treated rats revealed down regulation of HGF, TIMP1 and MMP2 expressed during CCl4 induction. In silico molecular mechanism prediction suggested that quercetin has a high affinity for cell signaling pathway proteins BCL-2, JAK2 and Cytochrome P450 Cyp2E1, which all play a significant role in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity. In silico molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation have shown that quercetin has a plausible affinity for major signaling proteins in liver. MMGBSA studies have revealed high binding of quercetin (ΔG) -41.48±11.02, -43.53±6.55 and -39.89±5.78 kcal/mol, with BCL-2, JAK2 and Cyp2E1, respectively which led to better stability of the quercetin bound protein complexes. Therefore, quercetin can act as potent inhibitor against CCl4 induced hepatic injury by regulating BCL-2, JAK2 and Cyp2E1.

Isolation and characterization of secondary metabolites from the leaves of Sauropus spatulifolius Beille and their potential biological assays.

Eight new compounds (1-8), along with three known related compounds (9-11) were isolated from the leaves of Sauropus spatulifolius Beille. Their structures and configurations were elucidated by means of spectrometric and the modified Mosher's method. Among the new compounds, compounds 1 and 2 were identified as ethyl 3, 6-anhydro-2-deoxy-ß-D-arabino-hexofuranoside (1) and ethyl 3, 6-anhydro-2-deoxy- hexofuranoside (2). Compounds 3-5 were the 2-acetylpyrrole derivatives and identified as 2-(2-acetyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl)-4-hydroxybutyric acid (3), methyl 4-(2-acetyl-lH-pyrrol- 1-yl) butanoate (4) and 1, 4-bis (2-acetyl-1H-pyrrol-1-yl) butane (5), respectively. Compound 6 was elucidated as 7-megastigmane-3, 8, 9-triol. Compounds 7, 8 were identified as kaempferol-3-O-2-deoxy-ß-D-glucoside (7) and kaempferol-3-O-ß-D- glucopyranosyl-(1-6)-2-deoxy-ß-D-glucoside (8). In addition, the cytotoxic activities of all the compounds were also evaluated, where compounds 3, 5, 7, 9\10 and 11 exhibited the magnificent inhibition activity on lung fibroblast differentiation induced by TGF-ß1with low toxicity against the RLE-6TN cell.

New phenylpropanoid-conjugated pentacyclic triterpenoids from the whole plants of Leptopus lolonum with their antiproliferative activities on cancer cells.

Most of Euphorbiaceae plants are considered as folk medicinal plants because of their various pharmacological effects. However, there are eight Leptopus genus plants which belong to Euphorbiaceae have never be investigated. Thus, four Leptopus genus plants were collected to study their chemical constituents and pharmacological activities. In the present work, the cytotoxicities of the extracts of four Leptopus genus plants were evaluated before phytochemical experiments. And nine new phenylpropanoid-conjugated pentacyclic triterpenoids, along with twenty-two known compounds were isolated from the whole plants of Leptopus lolonum. The structures of these new compounds were unequivocally elucidated by HRESIMS and 1D/2D NMR data. All triterpenoids were screened for their cytotoxicities against four cancer cell lines including HepG2, MCF-7, A549 and HeLa. Among these isolates, the triterpenoid with a phenylpropanoid unit showed increasing cytotoxicity on cancer cells, which suggested the importance of the phenylpropanoid moiety.