Natural Sesquiterpene Lactones as Renewable Chemical Materials for New Medicinal Products

Literature data and own research results on the technology for isolating natural sesquiterpene lactones such as arglabin, alantolactone, artemisinin, grosheimin, isoalantolactone, parthenolide, santonin and potential possibilities of their use as renewable material for obtaining new compounds as well as biologically active derivatives are generalized in this review. Sesquiterpene lactones from plants are promising sources for the development and practical application of new original medical products possessing antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antiulcer, antiviral and immune-stimulating action. The technology for isolating sesquiterpene lactones is based on the extraction of raw plant material by different organic solvents with the subsequent chromatographic purification. The effective and environmentally safe technology for isolation and purification of sesquiterpene lactone arglabin from Artemisia glabella Kar. et Kir. by the СО2-extraction method is developed. Thereat, it was experimentally determined that the method for isolating arglabin from CO2 extract of Artemisia glabella Kar. et Kir. using centrifugal partition chromatography is effective for preparative isolation of the active substance and its manufacturing application. It is practically important to obtain water-soluble derivatives of biologically active sesquiterpene lactones and also to use the nanotechnology achievements for directed transportation of a molecule of the medicine in the human body thereby reducing toxicity of an active component. Promising direction is chemical modification of molecules in sesquiterpene lactones which are renewable material for obtaining new derivatives, thanks to which it becomes possible to solve two problems at the same time. Firstly, these researches help to obtain derivatives with higher biological activity or improved physical and chemical properties. Secondly, these researches enable us to disclose the mechanism of action of different medicines within the framework of “structure-activity” correlation. The article presents the literature data and own results on chemical modification of sesquiterpene lactones of alantolactone, arglabin, artemisinin, grosheimin, isoalantolactone, parthenolide and santonin. Various reactions on functional groups of these molecules were used to obtain a number of new derivatives of sesquiterpene lactones containing haloid-, pyrazole-, triazole-, amino-, dialkylamino-, hydroxy-, dialkyl phosphonate- and cyclopropane groups, which have shown high physiological activity

Heteroatom-Containing Natural Sesquiterpene Lactones and Methods for their Obtaining

This review shows the data about isolated heteroatom-containing sesquiterpene lactones from various genera of Asteraceae family, natural occurence, isolation methods and their biological activity. Chlorinecontaining sesquiterpene lactones were isolated from genera of Artemisia L., Achillea L., Acroptilon Cass, Centaurea L., Chartolepis Cass, Eupatorium L., Jurinea Cass, Rhaponticum Adams, Saussurea DC. The greatest quantity of chlorine-containing sesquiterpene lactones were isolated from Centaurea genus. 25 new sesquiterpene lactones with chlorine atom in molecule were isolated and characterized. The sesquiterpene lactones, which in their structure contained a sulphur atom as a component of various alkoxyl-, thiohydroxygroups and acid residues, were isolated from genera of Eupatorium L., Petasites Mill, Helenium L., Acritopappus R.M. King and H. Rob., Arctium L., Saussurea DC. Nitrogen atom in the structure of natural sesquiterpene lactones is present in the form of amino groups as a part of ester groups as well as amino acids as Michael adducts. Nitrogen-containing sesquiterpene lactones were isolated from Acanthospermum Schrank, Saussurea DC. Isolated heteroatom-containing sesquiterpene lactones possess bactericidal, antifungal, cytotoxic, antiviral, virucidal, antiulcer and others activities. Another method for obtaining heteroatom-containing sesquiterpene lactones is a directed synthesis of chlorine-, fluorine-, bromine-, sulphur- and nitrogen-containing sesquiterpene lactones. On the basis of sesquiterpene lactone artemisinin known as an effective antimalarial preparation, we synthesized over 200 derivatives, among which fluorine-, chlorine-, bromine-, nitrogen-, sulphur- and azide-containing derivatives of artemisinin were obtained

Experimental, Clinical and Morphological Analysis of H-Ras Oncoproteins for Locally Advanced Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND: Activated forms of Ras are enhanced in both breast cancer as well as the cell lines with EGFR and HER2 expression. Therefore, H-Ras could be activated in breast tumours in the absence of direct mutational activation of Ras itself and could contribute to 20-50% of the cases. Expression inhibition, signal transduction interruption from H-Ras to the nucleus could become a promising therapeutic target. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and morphological criteria of locally advanced breast cancer and the expression of H-Ras oncoprotein in patients who have been subjected to different regimens of farnesyltransferase inhibitor. METHODS: H-Ras status was assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). RESULTS: An association between the expressions of H-Ras and Her2/neu (p = 0.001) as well as the tumour proliferation index Ki-67 (p = 0.001) in patients with breast cancer was established. Analysis of the relationship between H-Ras expression showed a relatively strong association with progression-free survival both before the treatment (V = 0.47; p = 0.001) and after the treatment (V = 0.45; p = 0.001). These results may indicate the clinical applicability of H-Ras as a prognostic factor or serve as a therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment. CONCLUSION: These results could indicate the potential clinical application of H-Ras as a prognostic factor or a therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment

Synthetic Derivatives of Natural Alkaloid Harmine

The indole alkaloid harmine was extracted from underground part of Peganum harmala L. With the purpose of obtaining the new biological active derivatives on base of alkaloid harmine the chemical modification was carried out. The p-toluolsulfochlorid, p-toluolsulfoacid, hydrochloric, sulfuric, nitric acids, dioxide selenium and phthalic anhydride have been chosen as modifiers. For the first time quaternary ammonium salts, derivatives of N-oxide and N (2)-oxyharminiumphthalate harmine are synthesized. The structure of the synthesized compounds is determined by methods of the spectral analysis and X-ray analysis. Antimicrobic and phagocytosis stimulating activities of isolated alkaloids and their derivatives are investigated

Comparative morphological and anatomical characteristics of Saussurea amara (L.) DC. and S. salsa pall. Spreng

In this paper, the authors conducted research of the comparative morphological and anatomical characteristics of two species of Saussurea, which grow in the steppes of Central Kazakhstan - S. amara L. (S. bitter) and S. salsa Pall. Spreng. (S. solonchak). Researchers revealed a number of clear distinctive morphological and anatomical signs of the over ground organs of S. amara and S. salsa, which make it possible to distinguish these species both as at the stage of collection of plants and also in the process of laboratory examination of the raw materials. The distinctive features of the anatomical stems of S. amara and S. salsa are the degree of furrows, strongly marked sclerenchyma of the conducting beams, and the size of parenchymatous cells of the primary cortex and the core. S. amara compared with S. salsa is characterized by more furrowed stems, less sclerenchyma in the conducting vascular bundles and smaller parenchymatous cells

СИНТЕЗ АМИДОПРОИЗВОДНЫХ ПУЛЕГОНА

Ritter’s reaction of pulegone with a number of both aliphatic and aromatic nitriles in the presence of catalytic amount of concentrated sulfuric acid proceeding through formation of a tertiary carbocation with the subsequent addition of nitrile molecule and formation of ketoamides, has been performed.Осуществлена реакция Риттера пулегона с рядом как алифатических, так и ароматических нитрилов в присутствии каталитического количества концентрированной серной кислоты, которая протекает через образование третичного карбокатиона с последующим присоединением к нему молекулы нитрила и образованием кетоамида.

Экспериментальное изучение системной биодоступности препарата «Гармина гидрохлорид, капсулы» в сравнении с нативным гармином на кроликах породы Шиншилла

An experimental comparative study of the relative bioavailability of plant alkaloid harmine (native, in the form of a base) in comparison with its derivative harmine hydrochloride was carried out on chinchilla rabbit. Both substances was administered in capsules, containing an equimolar amount of harmine (50 mg, p.o.). Harmin hydrochloride was shown to have some pharmacokinetic advantages in comparison with native harmin due to a relatively rapid achievement of the maximal plasma concentration (Tmax) and a significantly higher maximum concentration of the active substance in the blood. At the same time, there was shown that the chemical modification of harmine does not significantly affect on such pharmacokinetics parameter as the area under the curve (AUC), which indicates the absence of a difference in the degree of absorption in the compared dosage forms.В эксперименте на 12 кроликах-самцах породы Шиншилла проведено сравнительное исследование относительной биодоступности природного алкалоида гармина (нативного, в виде основания) и его производного гармина гидрохлорида, которые вводились перорально, в дозе 50 мг, в виде двух капсул, содержащих эквимолярное количество гармина (25 мг). Показано, что гармина гидрохлорид в сравнении с нативным гармином обладает фармакокинетическими преимуществами в виде сравнительно быстрого достижения максимальной концентрации (Tmax) в плазме крови и достоверно большего значения максимальной концентрации действующего вещества в крови. В то же время показано, что химическая модификация гармина не оказывает значимого влияния на такой параметр, как площадь под фармакокинетической кривой, что свидетельствует об отсутствии разницы в степени абсорбции у сравниваемых лекарственных форм