ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT The phytochemical study of hexane, chloroform and methanol extracts from leaves of Psychotria viridis resulted in the identification of: the pentacyclic triterpenes, ursolic and oleanolic acid; the steroids, 24-methylene-cycloartanol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol; the glycosylated steroids 3-O-β-D-glucosyl-β-sitosterol and 3-O-β-D-glucosyl-stigmasterol; a polyunsaturated triterpene, squalene; the esters of glycerol, 1-palmitoylglycerol and triacylglycerol; a mixture of long chain hydrocarbons; the aldehyde nonacosanal; the long chain fat acids hentriacontanoic, hexadecanoic and heptadenoic acid; the ester methyl heptadecanoate; the 4-methyl-epi-quinate and two indole alkaloids, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and N-methyltryptamine. The chemical structures were determined by means of spectroscopic (IR, 1H and 13C NMR, HSQC, HMBC and NOESY) and spectrometric (CG-MS and LCMS-ESI-ITTOF) methods. The study of biologic properties of P. viridis consisted in the evaluation of the acetylcholinesterase inhibition and cytotoxic activities. The hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol extracts, the substances 24-methylene-cycloartanol, DMT and a mixture of 3-O-β-D-glucosyl-β-sitosterol and 3-O-β-D-glucosyl-stigmasterol showed cholinesterase inhibiting activity. This activity induced by chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts was higher than 90%. The methanol and ethyl acetate extracts inhibit the growth and/or induce the death of the tumor cells strains B16F10 and 4T1, without damaging the integrity of the normal cells BHK and CHO. DMT also demonstrated a marked activity against tumor cell strains B16F10 and 4T1.
Subject(s)
Animals , Rats , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Plant Leaves/chemistry , Psychotria/chemistry , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Plant Extracts/isolation & purification , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy , N,N-Dimethyltryptamine/chemistry , Cell Survival/drug effects , Cholinesterase Inhibitors , Reproducibility of Results , Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared , Colorimetry , Cell Line, TumorABSTRACT
Se dosó la N, N-dimetiltriptamina (DMT) en la orina de 83 pacientes psiquiátricos. En el estudio se incluyeron pacientes que habían estado en algún momento en tratamiento con enurolépticos y pacientes con determinada sintomatología asociada a cuadros psicóticos: alucinaciones, delusiones, trastornos de la percepción, etc. En 36 casos (43,3//) se hallaron valores anormalmente altos de DMT urinaria (0,9-13,5 mcg/24 h). Estos valores se encontraron con mayor frecuencia en pacientes esquizofrénicos y en pacientes no esquizofrénicos tanto con alucinaciones o delusiones, como también anorexia o bulimia. La mayoría de los pacientes con valores normales de DMT (<0,5 mcg/24 h) presentaba retardo mental, atrofia cerebral o disritmias. Se encontró un muy buen correlato entre valores elevado de DMT urinária, mejoría clínica y el tratamiento con enurolépticos