Oxomollugin, a potential inhibitor of lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production including nuclear factor kappa B signals

Abstract

Mollugin, a naphthoquinone derivative, was reported to possess various biological activities such as anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activity. Mollugin isolated from Rubia tinctorum roots inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW264.7 macrophages. However, mollugin synthesized for further investigation of its anti-inflammatory mechanism showed weak activity in addition to unstable assay results. From the result of analysis on a degradation product of mollugin, oxomollugin was found to be the main active substance of mollugin degradation, showing a potent inhibitory activity on NO-production including nuclear factor kappa B signals.

Madder (Rubia cordifolia L.) Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Protecting Endothelial Cells from Apoptosis and Inflammation

“…Activation of the NF- κ B pathway can activate inflammatory response [ 11 , 12 ], and the activation of this pathway can be determined by detecting the levels of P65, P-P65, I κ Ba, and P-I κ Ba in the nucleus and in the cell. The levels of P-P65 and P-I κ Ba in the model group were significantly increased, and the protein expression of P-P65 and P-I κ Ba in the madder and Dil groups was significantly more decreased than that of the model group ( Figure 4(a) ).…”

Effects of geographical, soil and climatic factors on the two marker secondary metabolites contents in the roots of Rubia cordifolia L.

“…The two main secondary metabolites in the root of R. cordifolia belong to quinone compounds, among which purpurin belongs to anthraquinone compounds ( Singh et al., 2021 ), and mollugin belongs to naphthoquinone compounds ( Morita et al., 2015 ). The Chinese Pharmacopoeia requires that the contents of the two secondary metabolites in the roots of R. cordifolia should be up to standard before they can be used as medicines ( Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission, 2020 ), so the products of R. cordifolia on the market are uneven.…”

CF3-Substituted Mollugin 2-(4-Morpholinyl)-ethyl ester as a Potential Anti-inflammatory Agent with Improved Aqueous Solubility and Metabolic Stability

“…As these results became well known, the naphthoquinone scaffold of mollugin was spotlighted. Diverse analogues [ 7 , 10 ] such as oxomollugin [ 11 ] and azamollugin [ 12 ] were synthesized to explore their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer activities.…”