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Published on: January 12, 2009
Picrachinentins A-F, 14-Membered Cyclopeptide Alkaloid-Type Burpitides with Uncommon N-Terminal Modifications from
Xian-Zhe Fan1, Jia-Qi Song1, Li-Jun Zhang1
1State Key Laboratory for Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Medicinal Resources, Key Laboratory for Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Medicinal Resources (Ministry of Education of China), Collaborative Innovation Center for Guangxi Ethnic Medicine, School of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin 541004, China.
Abstract:
Picrachinentins A-F (1-6, respectively), six novel cyclopeptide alkaloid-type burpitides (CPABs), were isolated and fully elucidated from the EtOH extract of the stems and leaves of Picrasma chinensis. Structurally, compounds 1-6 have a 14-membered paracyclophane ring system that was closed through an ether bond between the β-hydroxy amino acid and tyrosine and modified with a 4,5-methylenedioxybenzoyloxy (MDBz, 3 and 5) or hexanoyl (Hexa, 1, 2, 4, and 6) group at the N-terminus. Interestingly, this is the first report on the isolation and characterization of CPABs from plants of the Simaroubaceae family. In addition, all compounds showed a neuroprotective effect against H2O2-damaged SH-SY5Y cells. Compound 1 was further investigated for its neuroprotective activities using a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced Parkinson's disease animal model, and it dramatically improved MPTP-impaired motor behavioral performance. Biochemical analysis revealed compound 1 restored the tyrosine hydroxylase expression in the striatum of the MPTP-damaged mouse brain, which demonstrates its protective effect on dopaminergic neurons.

