Citotoxicidad/capacidad antiradicalaria in-vitro y caracterización estructural por GC-MS/1H-13C-RMN de los aceites esenciales de hojas de árboles joven/adulto de annona purpurea Moc. & Sessé ex Dunal de Repelón (Atlántico, Colombia) / [in-vitro Cytotoxicity/Anti-Radical Capability and structural characterization by GC-MS/1H13C-NMR of theleaves essential oils of young/old trees of Annona purpurea Moc. & Sessé ex Dunal from Repelón (Atlántico,Colombia]

Annona purpurea es una planta empleada en etnomedicina, en la región norte de Colombia, que no tiene reportes científicos relacionados con la composición de su AE y sus actividades biológicas. En este trabajo, los AE de hojas de árboles joven/adulto se caracterizaron por GC-MS y RMN y se evaluaron sus propiedades antiradicalarias/citotóxicas. Los AE de hojas de árboles joven/adulto estuvieron representados por beta-eudesmol (68.9 por ciento) y alfa-eudesmol (16.8 por ciento), y germacreno D (55.6 por ciento) y biciclogermacreno (20.3 por ciento), respectivamente. El análisis por RMN mostró las señales distintivas de los constituyentes mayoritarios identificados. Los valores de TAA (mmol Trolox®/kg SE) obtenidos por los AE de árboles joven/adulto fueron 165 +/- 8 y 602 +/- 38. Los AE de árboles joven/adulto evaluados sobre linfocitos humanos fueron “moderadamente tóxicos” con valores de CL50 (ug/mL) de 145.5 +/- 0.7 y 346 +/- 8. Finalmente, la citotoxicidad en eritrocitos humanos reveló que el AE de árbol adulto no fue hemolítico (CL50 > 1000 μg/mL, 4.3 +/- 0.6 por ciento); mientras que, el AE de árbol joven fue hemolítico (CL50 490 +/- 48 ug/mL).

Annona purpurea is a plant used in ethnomedicine in the northern region of Colombia, which has no scientific reports on the composition of their essential oil (EO) and biological activities. In this work, the leaves EO of young/old trees were characterized by GC- MS and NMR, and their antiradical/cytotoxic properties were evaluated. beta-Eudesmol (68.9 percent) and alpha-eudesmol (16.8 percent), and germacrene D (55.6 percent) and bicyclogermacrene (20.3 percent), were the representative compounds of the leaves EO of young/old trees, respectively. The NMR analysis showed the distinctive signals of the main constituents identified. The TAA values (mmol Trolox®/kg ES) obtained from the EO of young/old trees were 165 +/- 8 and 602 +/- 38. The EO of young/old trees evaluated on human lymphocytes were “moderately toxic” with LC50 (μg/mL) of 145.5 +/- 0.7 and 346 +/- 8. Finally, the cytotoxicity in human erythrocytes revealed that the old tree EO was not haemolytic (LC50 > 1000 ug/mL, 4.3 +/- 0.6 percent); while the young tree EO was hemolytic (LC50 490 +/- 48 ug/mL).

Traditional Herbal Medicine for the Control of Tropical Diseases

Throughout history, traditional herbal medicine has afforded a rich repository of remedies with diverse chemical structures and bioactivities against several health disorders. A common issue of herbal medicine is the limitation of information on their pharmacological activities and their active constituents. Traditionally, the use of herbal medicine has been based on empirical treatment and passed on from generation to generation with information available only in local journals. This prevents several herbal medicines from being developed to their full potential. The presentation will focus on research and development of Atractylodes lancea (Thunb) DC. (AL: family Compositae) as a potential chemotherapeutic for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), the bile duct cancer commonly found in Southeast Asia. The dried rhizome of AL is a medicinal plant used in Chinese (“Cang Zhu”), Japan (“So-jutsu”) and Thai (“Khod-Kha-Mao”) traditional medicine for its various pharmacological properties including anticancer, anti-inflammation and antimicrobial activities, activities on central nervous, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal systems. The major constituents in the essential oils from AL rhizome are β-eudesmol, hinesol and atractylon. Preliminary investigation has demonstrated its promising anti-CCA activity both in vitro and animal (Opisthorchis viverrini/dimethylnitrosamine-induced CCA in hamsters and CCA—xenografted nude mice) models with high selectivity index comparing with the standard drug, 5-fluorouracil. It also showed virtually no toxicity with only minimal CNS effects on locomotor activity at the maximum dose of 5, 000 mg/kg body weight. Studies are underway to identify active constituent(s) which contribute to anti-CCA activity as well as its pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. The main research interest of my research group is the discovery and development of traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of two important tropical diseases, cholangiocarcinoma and malaria.As the time is quite limited, I am going to give you the summary of the conceptual framework and highlight some important findings which will illustrate how different approaches have been used or applied for the discovery of the promising candidates for these two diseases.