Iridoid Glucosides with Free Radical Scavenging Properties from Fagraea blumei. -From the methanolic stem-bark extract of the title species the new title compounds (I) and (II) are isolated. Their structures are established by spectroscopic methods. These compounds, blumeoside A ( Ia), B (IIb), C (Ib), and D (IIa), exhibit strong yellow or blue fluorescence and inhibit bleaching of crocin induced by alkoxyl radicals. -(CUENDET, M.; HOSTETTMANN, K.; POTTERAT, O.; DYATMIKO, W.; Helv. Chim. Acta 80 (1997) 4, 1144-1152; Inst. Pharmacogn. Phytochim., Ec. Pharm., Univ. Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switz.; EN)
Products derived from Noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia) have been commercialised in the USA since the 1990s and are increasingly distributed all over the world. A large number of beneficial effects have been claimed for Noni. Fruit juice of Noni has been approved as a Novel Food by the European Commission in 2003. This article reviews current knowledge on the phytochemistry, pharmacology, safety aspects of Noni fruit and Noni-derived products, and health-related claims and benefits. The knowledge on the chemical composition of Noni fruit has considerably increased over recent years. A number of in vitro and, to a certain extent, in vivo studies demonstrate a range of potentially beneficial effects. However, clinical data are essentially lacking. To what extent the findings from experimental pharmacological studies are of potential clinical relevance is not clear at present. Based on a toxicological assessment, Noni juice was considered as safe. Due to recent reports of cases of hepatotoxicity, the safety issue has been re-examined in Europe. While the European Food Safety Authority sees no link between adverse effects on liver and consumption of Noni juice, a continuing monitoring of the situation is desirable and some vigilance advised.
A set of 600 actinomycetes strains which were isolated from marine sediments from various sites in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans were screened for the production of bioactive secondary metabolites. Marine streptomycete strains were found to be producers of well known chemically diverse antibiotics isolated from terrestrial streptomycetes, as in the case of marine Micromonospora strains. New marine members of the rare genus Verrucosispora seem to be a promising source for novel bioactive secondary metabolites as shown in the case of the abyssomicin producing strain AB-18-032.
Since the advent of high-throughput screening (HTS) in the early 1990s, a wealth of innovative technologies have been proposed and implemented for the effective localization and characterization of bioactive constituents in complex matrices. The latest developments in this field are reviewed under the perspective of their applicability to natural product-based drug discovery. The approaches discussed here include TLC-based bioautography, HPLC-based assays with on-line, at-line and off-line detection, as well as affinity-based methods, such as frontal affinity chromatography, pulsed ultrafiltration mass spectrometry, imprinted polymers, and affinity capillary electrophoresis. Selected practical examples are given to illustrate the strengths and limitations of these approaches in contemporary natural product lead discovery. In addition, compatibility issues of natural product extracts and HTS are addressed, and selected protocols for the generation of high quality libraries are presented.
ReviewsThis document was downloaded for personal use only. Unauthorized distribution is strictly prohibited.Bryophyllum (see below) [4]. While these reviews describe various compounds and bioactivities, none of them addresses the pharmacological and clinical data that support the therapeutic use of Bryophyllum preparations in European countries. The present review focuses on B. pinnatum, but the few data available on Bryophyllum daigremontianum, Bryophyllum delagoense, and the hybrid Bryophyllum daigremontianum x tubiflorum have also been included. The German homeopathic pharmacopeia (HAB) 2014 [5] lists the two species B. pinnatum and B. daigremontianum as officinal in its monography "Bryophyllum Rh", and both have been used in AM. B. delagoense was introduced in the 1980s as an anthroposophic medicinal product in Germany, primarily for sedative purposes (Personal communication, Dr. med. Siegward-M. Elsas, see Acknowledgments).
Botany
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.