New Aromatic Bisabolane Derivatives with Lipid-Reducing Activity from the Marine Sponge <i>Myrmekioderma</i> sp.

Abstract

The previously reported 1-(2,4-dihydroxy-5-methylphenyl)ethan-1-one (1), (1’Z)-2-(1’,5’-dimethylhexa-1’,4’-dieny1)-5-methylbenzene-1,4-diol (2), and 1,8-epoxy-1(6),2,4,7,10-bisaborapentaen-4-ol (5) together with four new structures of aromatic bisabolane-related compounds (3, 4, 6, 7) were isolated from the marine sponge Myrmekioderma sp. Compounds 1, 2, and 5 were identified based on spectral data available in the literature. The structures of the four new compounds were experimentally established by 1D and 2D-NMR and (−)-HRESIMS spectral analysis. Cytotoxic and lipid-reducing activities of the isolated compounds were evaluated. None of the isolated compounds were active against the tested cancer cell lines; however, lipid-reducing activity was found for compounds 2−5 and 7 in the zebrafish Nile red fat metabolism assay. This class of compounds should be further explored for their suitability as possible agents for the treatment of lipid metabolic disorders and obesity.

Keywords

• marine sponges
• natural compounds
• bisabolane-related compounds
• bioactivity
• obesity
• whole small animal models