• Title/Summary/Keyword: quassinoid

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Studies on Anti-cancerous and Anti-malarial Substances from Simaroubaceae Plants

  • Takeya, Koichi
    • Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2000.10a
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    • pp.64-65
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    • 2000
  • Cancer is a general term subjected to a series of malignant tumor diseases which may affect many different parts of the human body. These cancer diseases are characterized by a rapid and uncontrolled formation of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer chemotherapeutic agents can often provide the prolongation of life and occasionally cures. To date many kinds of compounds have been obtained from plants kingdom as anti-neoplastic and anti-cancerous agents. However, there is no special type of compounds for cancer therapy. In our laboratory, anti-tumor and cytotoxic screenings on higher plants collected in Japan, China, Korea, Southeast Asia and South America have been done by using Sarcoma 180 ascites in mice, P388 lymphocytic leukemia in mice, Chinese hamster lung V-79 cells, P388 cells and nasopharynx carcinoma (KB) cells. The family, Simaroubaceae consists of about 20 genera and 120 species, mainly shrubs and trees, distributed in tropical and subtropical country. Simaroubaceae is classified as RUTALES, together with Rutaceae, Burseraceae, Meliaceae, Malpighiaceae and Polygalaceae. The members differ from the Rutaceae in not containing oil glands. Bitter principles are a characteristic of the family, Simaroubaceae. The genera include Quassia (Simarouba) (40 spp.), Picrasma (Aeschrion) (6 spp.), Brucea (10 spp.), Soulamea (10 spp.), Ailanthus (10 spp.) and Perriera (1 spp.) etc.. Surinam quassia derived from Quassia amara growing in Guianas, north Brazil and Venezuela is used in traditional medicines for stomachic, anti-amoebic, anti-malarial and anti-anaemic properties. Also, various parts of a number of plants of the family Simaroubaceae have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of a variety oi diseases including cancer, amoebic, dysentery and malaria. Then, the research has established that it is the quassinoid content of these plants that is responsible for above activities. In this meeting, I will present on anti-tumor and anti-malarial activities and their active principles of Simaroubaceae plants, Eurycoma longifolia, Ailanthus vilmoriniana, Simaba cedron and Brucea mullis which have been studied in our laboratory.

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Studies on Anti-cancerous and Anti-malarial Substances from Simaroubaceae Plants

  • Takeya, Koichi
    • Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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    • 2000.10b
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    • pp.11-13
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    • 2000
  • Cancer is a general term subjected to a series of malignant tumor diseases which may affect many different parts of the human body. These cancer diseases are characterized by a rapid and uncontrolled formation of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer chemotherapeutic agents can often provide the prolongation of life and occasionally cures. To date many kinds of compounds have been obtained from plants kingdom as anti-neoplastic and anti-cancerous agents. However, there is no special type of compounds for cancer therapy. In our laboratory, anti-tumor and cytotoxic screenings on higher plants collected in Japan, China, Korea, Southeast Asia and South America have been done by using Sarcoma 180 ascites in mice, P388 lymphocytic leukemia in mice, Chinese hamster lung V-79 cells, P388 cells and nasopharynx carcinoma (KB) cells. The family, Simaroubaceae consists of about 20 genera and 120 species, mainly shrubs and trees, distributed in tropical and subtropical country. Simaroubaceae IS classified as RUTALES, together with Rutaceae, Burseraceae, Meliaceae, Malpighiaceae and Polygalaceae. The members differ from the Rutaceae in not containing oil glands. Bitter principles are a characteristic of the family, Simaroubaceae. The genera include Quassia (Simarouba) (40 spp.), Picrasma (Aeschrion) (6 spp.), Brucea (10 spp.), Soulamea (10 spp.), Ailanthus (10 spp.) and Perriera (1 spp.) etc.. Surinam quassia derived from Quassia amara growing in Guianas, north Brazil and Venezuela is used in traditional medicines for stomachic, anti-amoebic, anti-malarial and anti-anaemic properties. Also, various parts of a number of plants of the family Simaroubaceae have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of a variety of diseases including cancer, amoebic, dysentery and malaria. Then, the research has established that it is the quassinoid content of these plants that is responsible for above activities. In this meeting, I will present on anti-tumor and anti-malarial activities and their active principles of Simaroubaceae plants, Eurycoma longifolia, Ailanthus vilmoriniana, Simaba cedron and Brucea mollis which have been studied in our laboratory.

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Pathogen, Insect and Weed Control Effects of Secondary Metabolites from Plants (식물유래 2차 대사물질의 병충해 및 잡초 방제효과)

  • Kim, Jong-Bum
    • Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.48 no.1
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    • pp.1-15
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    • 2005
  • Pathogens, insects and weeds have significantly reduced agricultural productivity. Thus, to increase the productivity, synthetic agricultural chemicals have been overused. However, these synthetic compounds that are different from natural products cannot be broken down easily in natural systems, causing the destruction of soil quality and agricultural environments and the gradually difficulty in continuous agriculture. Now agriculture is faced with the various problems of minimizing the damage in agricultural environments, securing the safety of human health, while simultaneously increasing agricultural productivity. Meanwhile, plants produce secondary metabolites to protect themselves from external invaders and to secure their region for survival. Plants infected with pathogens produce antibiotics phytoalexin; monocotyledonous plants produce flavonoids and diterpenoids phytoalexins, and dicotylodoneous plant, despite of infected pathogens, produce family-specific phytoalexin such as flavonoids in Leguminosae, indole derivatives in Cruciferae, sesquitepenoids in Solanaceae, coumarins in Umbelliferae, making the plant resistant to specific pathogen. Growth inhibitor or antifeedant substances to insects are terpenoids pyrethrin, azadirachtin, limonin, cedrelanoid, toosendanin and fraxinellone/dictamnine, and terpenoid-alkaloid mixed compounds sesquiterpene pyridine and norditerpenoids, and azepine-, amide-, loline-, stemofoline-, pyrrolizidine-alkaloids and so on. Also plants produces the substances to inhibit other plant growths to secure the regions for plant itself, which is including terpenoids essential oil and sesquiterpene lactone, and additionally, benzoxazinoids, glucosinolate, quassinoid, cyanogenic glycoside, saponin, sorgolennone, juglone and lots of other different of secondary metabolites. Hence, phytoalexin, an antibiotic compound produced by plants infected with pathogens, can be employed for pathogen control. Terpenoids and alkaloids inhibiting insect growth can be utilized for insect control. Allelochemicals, a compound released from a certain plant to hinder the growth of other plants for their survival, can be also used directly as a herbicides for weed control as well. Therefore, the use of the natural secondary metabolites for pest control might be one of the alternatives for environmentally friendly agriculture. However, the natural substances are destroyed easily causing low the pest-control efficacy, and also there is the limitation to producing the substances using plant cell. In the future, effects should be made to try to find the secondary metabolites with good pest-control effect and no harmful to human health. Also the biosynthetic pathways of secondary metabolites have to be elucidated continuously, and the metabolic engineering should be applied to improve transgenics having the resistance to specific pest.