Potential anticarcinogenic natural products isolated from lemongrass oil and galanga root oil

Abstract

Guided by the glutathione S-transferase (GST) assay, fractionation of lemongrass oil and galanga root oil from the plants Cymbopogon citratus and Alpinia galanga , respectively, led to the isolation of four active compounds: d-limonene (1) and geraniol (2) from lemongrass oil; ethyl trons-cinnamate (3) and ethyl 4-methoxy-trons-cinnamate (4) from galanga root oil. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectral analysis. These compounds were tested for their capacity to induce the activity of the detoxifying enzyme, GST, in several tissues of female A/J mice. Compound 1 increased GST activity 2.4-3.0-fold higher than controls in the mouse liver and mucosa of the small intestine and large intestine. Compound 2 showed high GST-inducing activity only in the mucosa of the small intestine and large intestine (about 2.5-fold greater than controls). Compounds 3 and 4 exhibited significant activity in the mouse liver and intestines. Induction of increased GST activity, which is believed to be a major mechanism for chemical carcinogen detoxification, has been recognized as one of the characteristics of the action of anticarcinogens. Thus, these compounds show promise as potential chemopreventive agents.(Poaceae or Gramineae) (Formacek and Kubcezka, 1982).C. citratus, native of Sri Lanka and India, now grows only under cultivation in India, Africa, the Philippines, Madagascar, Central and South America, the West Indies, and southeast Asia. Lemongrass oil is used mainly in food flavorings and to a lesser extent in perfumery. Galanga

Cytotoxic and Antioxidative Sesquiterpenoids fromHeterotheca inuloides

“…In addition to this moderate cytotoxicity, /3-caryophyllene has recently been reported to show glutathione S-transferaseinducing activity (13) which is believed to play a role in carcinogen detoxification (14). Importantly, this sesquiterpene hydrocarbon is identified in many edible plants, food spices, beverages, and is frequently used for fragrance and flavor (15).…”

Biochemical and molecular profiling of micropropagated and conventionally grown Kaempferia galanga

“…Ethylp-methoxy cinnamate has been reported as the major constituent of rhizome oil of K. galanga of different origins (Tewtrakul et al 2005;Sukari et al 2008). This component has been reported to show many biological activities, such as anti-cancer (Zheng et al 1993) and anti-monoamine oxidase activities (Noro et al 1983). Our report is in agreement with Puthan et al (1926) and Sudibyo (2000) who reported that the oil of K. galanga possessed ethyl cinnamate and ethyl-p-methoxy cinnamate as the main components, which is contrary to the the report of Tewtrakul et al (2005) who reported methyl cinnamate and ethyl-pmethopxy cinnamate as major constituents.…”

Anti-angiogenic effects of the fruit of Alpinia oxyphylla

“…The ethanol extract of A. katsumadai also showed anti-inflammatory potential (Choi et al, 2009;Yang et al, 2009), and two flavonoids derived from the herb exhibited potent cytotoxic effect against tumor cells (Hahm et al, 2003;Hua et al, 2009). An 80% aqueous acetone extract from the rhizomes of A. galanga showed NO production inhibitory activity in mouse peritoneal macrophages (Morikawa et al, 2005), while ethyl 4-methoxy-trans-cinnamate and 1 S-1 -acetoxychavicol acetate from the herb, respectively, exhibited anti-carcinogenic effects (Zheng et al, 1993) and anti-inflammatory effects (Ando et al, 2005). Anti-cancer or anti-inflammatory effects are reported from A. blepharocalyx (K.) (Ali et al, 2001a,b;Kadota et al, 2003;Tezuka et al, 2001), A. calcarata Rosc.…”