Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » Natural Products Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #360420
Research Project: Health-Promoting Bioactives and Biobased Pesticides from Medicinal and Herbal Crops

Location: Natural Products Utilization Research

Title: Bioactive metabolites of the stem bark of Strychnos aff. darienensis and evaluation of their antioxidant and UV protection activity in Human Skin Cell Cultures

Author
item TRAVASAROU, AIKATERINI - University Of Mississippi
item VOUGOGIANNOPOULOU, KONSTANTINA - University Of Mississippi
item ALIGIANNIS, ALIGIANNIS - University Of Mississippi
item Cantrell, Charles
item FOKIALAKIS, NIKOLAS - University Of Mississippi
item PRATSINIS, HARRIS - National Center For Scientific Research Demokritos

Submitted to: Cosmetics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/22/2019
Publication Date: 1/26/2019
Citation: Travasarou, A., Vougogiannopoulou, K., Aligiannis, A., Cantrell, C.L., Fokialakis, N., Pratsinis, H. 2019. Bioactive metabolites of the stem bark of Strychnos aff. darienensis and evaluation of their antioxidant and UV protection activity in Human Skin Cell Cultures. Cosmetics. 6(7):1-10.

Interpretive Summary: The genus Strychnos (Loganiaceae) is well-known as a rich source of various bioactive metabolites. In continuation of our phytochemical studies on plants from Amazonia we examined Strychnos aff. dariensis, collected in Peru. This species has been traditionally used in South America and is still presently used as a drug from the Yanesha tribe in Peru. Phytochemical investigation of this plant led to the isolation a of 14 compounds. These compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicity and then for their anti-oxidant and UV-protectant activity. Two of these compounds could prove useful as bioactive ingredients in the food and cosmetic industries.

Technical Abstract: The genus Strychnos (Loganiaceae) is well-known as a rich source of various bioactive metabolites. In continuation of our phytochemical studies on plants from Amazonia we examined Strychnos aff. dariensis, collected in Peru. This species has been traditionally used in South America and is still presently used as a drug from the Yanesha tribe in Peru. Phytochemical investigation of this plant led to the isolation and structure elucidation by NMR and HRMS of 14 compounds that belong to the categories of phenolic acids [p-hydroxybenzoic acid (1) and vanillic acid (2)], flavonoids [luteolin, (3), 3-O-methyl quercetin (4), strychnobiflavone (5), minaxin (6) and 3’, 4’, 7-trihydroxy-flavone (7)], lignans [syringaresinol-ß-D-glucoside (8), balanophonin (9) and ficusal (10)] and alkaloids [venoterpine (11), 11-methoxyhenningsamine (12), diaboline (13) and 11-methoxy diaboline (14)]. Five isolated flavonoids haveing the most interesting anti-aging activities were evaluated for their safety and their biological activity on normal human neonatal foreskin fibroblasts. Initially they were evaluated for their cytotoxicity and then for their anti-oxidant and UV-protectant activity in cell cultures at 4, 20 and 100 µg/ml. The results of the present study indicate that 3 and 5 are the most promising compounds with no cytotoxicity and protective activity in a dose response manner against ROS and UV-irradiation and thus could prove useful bioactive ingredients in the food and cosmetic industries.