Natural Products and Bioprospecting (Sep 2017)

Indole Alkaloids Inhibiting Neural Stem Cell from Uncaria rhynchophylla

  • Xin Wei,
  • Li-Ping Jiang,
  • Ying Guo,
  • Afsar Khan,
  • Ya-Ping Liu,
  • Hao-Fei Yu,
  • Bei Wang,
  • Cai-Feng Ding,
  • Pei-Feng Zhu,
  • Ying-Ying Chen,
  • Yun-Li Zhao,
  • Yong-Bing Chen,
  • Yi-Fen Wang,
  • Xiao-Dong Luo

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13659-017-0141-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 5
pp. 413 – 419

Abstract

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Abstract Uncaria rhynchophylla is commonly recognized as a traditional treatment for dizziness, cerebrovascular diseases, and nervous disorders in China. Previously, the neuro-protective activities of the alkaloids from U. rhynchophylla were intensively reported. In current work, three new indole alkaloids (1–3), identified as geissoschizic acid (1), geissoschizic acid N 4-oxide (2), and 3β-sitsirikine N 4-oxide (3), as well as 26 known analogues were isolated from U. rhynchophylla. However, in the neural stem cells (NSCs) proliferation assay for all isolated compounds, geissoschizic acid (1), geissoschizic acid N 4-oxide (2), isocorynoxeine (6), isorhynchophylline (7), (4S)-akuammigine N-oxide (8), and (4S)-rhynchophylline N-oxide (10) showed unexpected inhibitory activities at 10 μM. Unlike previous neuro-protective reports, as a warning or caution, our finding showcased a clue for possible NSCs toxicity and the neural lesions risk of U. rhynchophylla, while the structure–activity relationships of the isolated compounds were discussed also.

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