Sesquiterpene lactones from Lychnophora species: Antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant pathways to treat acute gout.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Lychnophora trichocarpha and Lychnophora passerina are species used in folk medicine to treat inflammation, pain, and rheumatism. Previous studies have demonstrated the anti-inflammatory effect of ethanol extracts of these species and identified that sesquiterpene lactones contribute to this activity. AIM OF THE STUDY: Gout is an acute inflammatory arthritis caused by the deposition of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals in joints. Inflammation in joints induces oxidative stress in defense cells, releasing pro-inflammatory mediators. This study has three objectives: (1) to demonstrate the effects of sesquiterpene lactones lychnopholide and eremantholide C isolated from L. trichocarpha and goyazensolide isolated from L. passerina on arthritis induced by MSU crystals in C57BL6 mice; (2) to determine whether or not these compounds can inhibit the migration of neutrophils and the release of TNF-α and IL-1ß cytokines in the inflammation region; and (3) to evaluate the effects of sesquiterpene lactones on the activities of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) in the cartilage of C57BL/6 mice with gouty arthritis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, and antioxidant activities of sesquiterpene lactones in C57BL/6 mice with MSU crystal-induced arthritis were evaluated. In our experimental model, the mice were injected with MSU crystals in the tibiofemoral joint to induce arthritis and then treated with indomethacin, vitamin C, and sesquiterpene lactones. Nociception was evaluated before and after inflammation induction and treatments, neutrophil migration, IL-1ß and TNF-α concentrations, and SOD and CAT activities. RESULTS: Sesquiterpene lactones exerted an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting neutrophil migration and TNF-α production. These compounds also demonstrated antinociceptive and antioxidant activities. CONCLUSION: Lychnopholide, eremantholide C, and goyazensolide improved the inflammation induced by MSU crystals by inhibiting the migration of neutrophils to the inflamed area and by blocking the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α. In addition, sesquiterpene lactones reduced oxidative stress by activating SOD and CAT. These results suggest that sesquiterpene lactones have anti-gout activity through the inflammation, pain, and oxidative stress pathways.

A fast and efficient LC-MS/MS method for detection, identification and quantitative analysis of bioactive sesterterpenes in Salvia dominica crude extracts.

Sesterterpenes are a small group of terpenoids showing a number of interesting pharmacological properties, including cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-angiogenic activities and platelet aggregation inhibition. Recently, some sesterterpene lactones isolated from Salvia dominica have been shown to modulate enzymatic activity of tubulin tyrosine ligase (TTL), a promising target for new anticancer therapeutic strategies. However, to allow a direct use of S. dominica extracts as a source of TTL inhibitors, analytical method aimed to their fast qualitative and quantitative characterization is required. Despite the structural features and diverse biological activities of sesterterpenoids, actually no analytical method for their quantization into complex mixtures has been published. Here we describe an LC-MS/MS method aimed to qualitative and quantitative analysis of sesterterpenes lactones in the crude extracts obtained from different parts of S. dominica. This approach allowed us to characterize all the sesterterpenes by a single step analysis and also to identify two unknown compounds. Moreover, a quantitative comparison of the composition in sesterterpenes of extracts obtained from S. dominica leaves, roots and leaf galls was performed, leading to the definition of both leaves and leaf galls as suitable sources of TTL inhibitors.