Seven New Tetrahydroanthraquinones from the Root of Prismatomeris connata and Their Cytotoxicity against Lung Tumor Cell Growth
Chunxiang Wang,
Xiao Ding,
Shi-Xiu Feng,
Qiunong Guan,
Xiao-Ping Zhang,
Caigan Du,
Ying-Tong Di,
Tao Chen
Affiliations
Chunxiang Wang
Key Laboratory of South Subtropical Plant Diversity, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen & Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518004, China
Xiao Ding
State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Shi-Xiu Feng
Key Laboratory of South Subtropical Plant Diversity, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen & Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518004, China
Qiunong Guan
Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6H 3Z6, Canada
Xiao-Ping Zhang
School of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China
Caigan Du
Department of Urologic Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6H 3Z6, Canada
Ying-Tong Di
State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Tao Chen
Key Laboratory of South Subtropical Plant Diversity, Fairy Lake Botanical Garden, Shenzhen & Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518004, China
The root of Prismatomeris connata has been used in China for centuries as the medicinal herb “Huang Gen” (HG), but its phytochemicals or active ingredients are not well understood. In this study, we performed chemical analysis of the ethyl acetate fraction of a HG ethanol extract. We thus isolated seven new tetrahydroanthraquinones, prisconnatanones C–I (compounds 1–7) from the root of P. connata and identified their structures using spectroscopic analyses. Their absolute configurations were established by both modified Mosher’s and Mo2OAc4 methods, and ORD techniques. Their cytotoxicity was tested in a panel of human lung tumor cells (H1229, HTB179, A549 and H520 cell lines). Prisconnatanone I (7) showed the highest activity, with an IC50 value ranging from 2.7 µM to 3.9 µM in the suppression of tumor cell growth, and the others with chelated phenolic hydroxyls exhibited relatively lower activity (IC50: 8–20 µM). In conclusion, these data suggest that some of the natural tetrahydroanthraquinones in HG are bioactive, and hydroxylation at C-1 significantly increases the cytotoxicity of these compounds against lung tumor cell growth.
