Isolation of alpha-spinasterol from Amaranthus spinosus stems / Aislación de alfa-spinasterol de ramas de Amaranthus spinosus

alpha spinasterol was identified in stems of Amaranthus spinosus. The structure was obtained by spectroscopic methods and comparison with literature data.

alfa spinasterol fue identificado en ramas de Amaranthus spinosus. La estructura fue obtenida por metodos espectroscópicos y por comparación con datos de literature.

[Purification and structured termination of compounds in chloroform extract of the aerial parts of the plant Ferula hirtella]

Ferula is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the family Umbelliferae, of which 30 species are found in Iran. Many species of this family possess medicinal qualities and have long been used in traditional medicine. This research aims to isolate, separate and determine the structure of the compounds found in the chloroform extract of the aerial parts of Ferula hirtella. We collect F. hirtella from the site of its natural habitat in Abade, Fars Province. The chloroform extract of the aerial parts is derived and then mixture separation using Column chromatography is performed. Using Column chromatography purification methods, we were able to separate, for the first time, two coumarins, Farneciferol C and Umbelliprenin, and a steroid compound, beta-stigmasterol from the chloroform extract of the F. hirtella which were identified using C NMR and H NMR spectral data. A majority of the compounds found in the chloroform extract of the aerial parts of F. hirtella are coumarins. Separation of beta-stigmasterol from the chloroform extract of this genus was achieved for the first time

Antitumor activity of spinasterol isolated from Pueraria roots

We purified phytoestrogens from Pueraria root (Pueraria mirifica from Thailand and Pueraria lobata from Korea), which is used as a rejuvenating folk medicine in Thailand and China. Dried, powdered plant material was extracted with 100% ethanol and further separated by concentration, filtration, and thin layer silica gel chromatography. Using the fractions obtained during separation, we first investigated their cytotoxicity in several cancer cell lines from various tissues. The ethanol-extracted components (PE1, PE4) had significant antiproliferative effects on breast cancer cell lines, including MCF-7, ZR-75-1, MDA-MB-231, SK-BR-3, and Hs578T. Second, we compared these results with the cytotoxic effects of known flavonoids, sterols, and coumarins from Pueraria root. The known compounds were not as effective, and occurred in a different polarity region on HPLC. Third, further separation resulted in the isolation of eight different components (Sub PE-A to -H). One of these, PE-D, affected the growth of some breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, as well as the growth of ovarian (2774) and cervical cancer cells (HeLa). Finally, a transfection assay showed that this component had an estrogenic effect similar to 17beta-estradiol, which activates both estrogen receptor a (ER alpha) and ER beta. The NMR analysis determined that spinasterol (stigmasta-7, 22-dien-3beta-ol) is an active cytotoxic component of Pueraria root.