Ergostanes from the mushroom Trametes versicolor and their cancer cell inhibition: In vitro and in silico evaluation.

In this study, five steroid compounds were isolated from the fruiting bodies mushroom Trametes versicolor. The compounds, 9,19-cyclolanostane-3,29-diol (3), ergosta-7,22-dien-3-acetate (4), and ergosta-8(14),22-dien-3ß,5α,6ß,7α-tetrol (5), were identified from T. versicolor for the first time. The five compounds were evaluated for their activity against cancer cell lines. Compound 5α,8α-epidioxyergosta-6,22-dien-3ß-ol (1) was found to be the most effective against most of the cancer cell lines tested. In silico studies showed that compound 1 has good binding affinities to different cancer targets, namely cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (cdk2), human cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (cdk6), Human Topo IIa ATPase/AMP-PNP, anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, and Vegfr-2. It's also druglike based on Lipinski's rule of five and it's ADME/Tox properties. Therefore, compound 1 is a good candidate in the management of cancer. These results further show that T. versicolor is a potential source of drugs or drug leads for cancer treatment.

Characterization of secondary metabolites from the berries of Ziziphus mucronata and their antioxidant properties.

Ziziphus mucronata is a medicinal plant used traditionally for treating various diseases. The antioxidant assay for the crude extracts obtained from the berries of Ziziphus mucronata was carried out using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) method. Purified antioxidant compounds were obtained by chromatographic methods and were subjected to structure elucidation using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Berries of Ziziphus mucronata were found to have high antioxidant activity since their ethyl acetate extract had an IC50 value of 214.9 µg/mL and methanol extract had an IC50 value of 8.9 µg/mL showing significant antioxidant activity in comparison to that of the standard ascorbic acid, which was found to have an IC50 value of 1.5 µg/mL. Betulin, betulinic acid and ursolic acid were among the compounds isolated from the berries of Ziziphus mucronata and are known to possess significant antioxidant activity. They have not been known to be previously isolated from Ziziphus mucronata.

Diterpenoids from the roots of Croton dichogamus Pax.

Four previously undescribed diterpenoids including two crotofolanes, crotodichogamoin A and B, and two halimanes, crothalimene A and B, a new sesquiterpenoid, and fifteen previously reported compounds, including the crotofolane, crotohaumanoxide, the casbane, depressin, a further seven furanohalimane diterpenoids, three patchoulane and two further cadinane sesquiterpenoids and aleuritolic acid were isolated from the root of Croton dichogamus. Crotodichogamoin B is an important biosynthetic intermediate of the crotofolane class and this is the first report of patchoulene sesquiterpenoids from the genus. Compounds were tested at one concentration, 1 × 10-5 M, in the NCI59 cell one-dose screen but did not show significant activity snd were also evaluated for their cytotoxicity against Caco-2 cell lines using the neutral red assay. 10-epi-Maninsigin D reduced Caco-2 cell viability at 10, 30 and 100 µM, with values of decreased viability of 28%, 48% and 43% respectively. None of the other tested compounds showed significant activity.