Two betaine-type alkaloids from Egyptian Pancratium maritimum

Two 2-oxyphenanthridinium alkaloids have been isolated from Egyptian Pancratium maritimum and identified as ungeremine and zefbetaine using spectroscopic and chemical methods. The identification of zefbetaine was supported by its partial synthesis from pseudolycorine and by comparison with its unnatural isomer, iso-zefbetaine, which was in turn prepared from sternbergine. © 1992

Two Betaine-type alkaloids from Egyptian Pancratium Maritimum

Two2-oxyphenanthridinium alkaloids have been isolated from EgyptianPancratiummaritimum and identified as ungeremine and zefbetaine using spectroscopic and chemical methods. The identification of zefbetaine was supported by its partial synthesis from pseudolycorine and by comparison with its unnatural isomer, iso-zefbetaine, which was in turn prepared from sternbergine

<i>In vitro</i> cytotoxicity of some <i>Narcissus</i> plants extracts

<div><p>This study compares the chloroform extracts of bulbs and roots of <i>Narcissus papyraceus</i> Ker Gawl. and <i>Narcissus tazetta</i> L. The cytotoxicity of the plant extracts was evaluated against human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HEPG2) and colon carcinoma cell line (HCT116) in comparison to doxorubicin. The extracts from the after-flowering (AF) bulbs of <i>N. tazetta</i> L. and <i>N. papyraceus</i> exhibited strong cytotoxic activity against HEPG2 (IC₅₀: 2.2, 3.5 μg mL^− 1) and HCT116 (IC₅₀: 4.2, 3.9 μg mL^− 1) cell lines, respectively. <i>N. tazetta</i> L. bulbs exhibited the least cell viability percentage in HepG-2 cell line (5.32%), while the AF root extracts of <i>N. papyraceus</i> exhibited the least cell viability percentage in HCT116 cell line (4.93%), when applied at a concentration of 50 μg mL^− 1, thereby being more active than doxorubicin at the same concentration.</p></div

Amaryllidaceae alkaloids belonging to different structural subgroups display activity against apoptosis-resistant cancer cells.

Fifteen Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (1-15) were evaluated for their antiproliferative activities against six distinct cancer cell lines. Several of these natural products were found to have low micromolar antiproliferative potencies. The log P values of these compounds did not influence their observed activity. When active, the compounds displayed cytostatic, not cytotoxic activity, with the exception of pseudolycorine (3), which exhibited cytotoxic profiles. The active compounds showed similar efficacies toward cancer cells irrespective of whether the cell lines were responsive or resistant to proapoptotic stimuli. Altogether, the data from the present study revealed that lycorine (1), amarbellisine (6), haemanthamine (14), and haemanthidine (15) are potentially useful chemical scaffolds to generate further compounds to combat cancers associated with poor prognoses, especially those naturally resistant to apoptosis, such as glioblastoma, melanoma, non-small-cell lung, and metastatic cancers.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe