Isolation of praeruptorins A and B from Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn. and their general pharmacological evaluation in comparison with extracts of the drug

Synthesis and crystal structure of 8-bromo-3-(1H-pyrazole-1-carbonyl)-2H-chromen-2-one, C13H7BrN2O3

C13H7BrN2O3, triclinic, P 1 ‾ $\overline{1}$ (no. 2), a = 7.2968(6) Å, b = 7.6743(6) Å, c = 11.5698(12) Å, α = 77.255(8)°, β = 73.573(8)°, γ = 73.509(7)°, V = 588.90(10) Å3, Z = 2, R gt (F) = 0.0459, wR ref (F 2) = 0.1089, T = 220 K.

Plant Pyranocoumarins: Description, Biosynthesis, Application

This overview article contains information about pyranocoumarins over the last 55 years. The article is based on the authors' phytochemical and physiological studies in vivo and in vitro as well as search and analysis of data in literature available on Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect before January 2022. Pyranocoumarins are synthesized in plants of the Apiaceae, Rutaceae families, and one species in each of the Cornaceae, Calophyllaceae, and Fabaceae families can synthesize this class of compounds. The physiological role of these compounds in plants is not clear. It has been proven that these substances have a wide range of biological activities: anti-cancer, anti-spasmatic, and anticoagulant, and they also inhibit erythrocyte lysis and accumulation of triacylglycerides. The overview generalizes the modern understanding of the classification, structure, and biological activity of natural pyranocoumarins, and summarizes dispersed data into a unified scheme of biosynthesis. The review analyzes data on the localization and productivity of these substances in individual organs and the whole plant. It discusses a link between the unique structure of these substances and their biological activity, as well as new opportunities for pyranocoumarins in pharmacology. The article evaluates the potential of different plant species as producers of pyranocoumarins and considers the possibilities of cell cultures to obtain the end product.

Praeruptorin A reduces metastasis of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting ERK/MMP1 signaling pathway

Praeruptorin A (PA) is one of the active ingredients found in the dried root of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn, has been reported to possess anticancer effects against various types of cancer. However, the effect of PA on human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains uncleared. In this study, our results indicated that PA did not induce cytotoxicity or alter cell cycle distribution in human HCC cells (Huh-7, SK-Hep-1, and PLC/PRF/5 cells). Instead, PA inhibited the migration and invasion of human HCC cells while downregulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1) and activating the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathways. Furthermore, blocking the ERK signaling pathway through siERK restored the expression of MMP1 and the invasive ability of PA-treated HCC cells. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the antimetastatic activity of PA against human HCC cells, supporting its potential as a therapeutic agent of HCC treatments.

The Potential of Chinese Herbal Medicines in the Treatment of Cervical Cancer

Cervical cancer is a global health issue and places a considerable economic and medical burden on society. Thus, a concerted effort to improve the treatment of cervical cancer is warranted. Although several treatment options are currently available for treating patients with cervical cancer, such as chemoradiation and neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy, more aggressive systemic therapies and newer therapeutic agents are under investigation. Medicinal herbs have long been used to treat diseases. In this review, we summarize studies analyzing the antitumor effects and underlying mechanisms of Chinese herbal medicines, including the effects of crude extracts and compounds in vitro or in animal models for inducing apoptosis and inhibiting invasion or metastasis. Chinese herbal medicines with therapeutic targeting, such as those that interfere with tumor growth and progression in cervical cancer, have been widely investigated. To apply Chinese herbal medicine in the treatment of cervical cancer, adequate clinical studies are required to confirm its clinical safety and efficiency. Further investigations focused on the purification, pharmacokinetics, and identification of compounds from Chinese herbal medicines in cervical cancer treatment are necessary to achieve the aforementioned treatment goals.

Metabolomic profiling of Saposhnikoviae Radix from Mongolia by LC-IT-TOF-MS/MS and multivariate statistical analysis

Saposhnikoviae Radix (SR) is a commonly used crude drug that is obtained from the root and rhizome of Saposhnikovia divaricata which is distributed throughout China, Korea, Mongolia, and Russia. To evaluate the quality of Mongolian S. divaricata, metabolomic profiling of 43 plant specimens from different regions of Mongolia, as well as 8 SR samples and 2 plant specimens from China, were conducted by liquid chromatography-ion-trap-time-of-flight-mass spectrometer (LC-IT-TOF-MS). LC-MS profiles of the specimens showed uniformity and 30 compounds were tentatively identified, including 13 chromones and 17 coumarins. Among them, 16 compounds were isolated and unambiguously verified by comparing them with the spectroscopic data of standard compounds. Orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) based on LC-MS data from 7 Mongolian specimens and 8 Chinese SR samples as well as 2 plant specimens revealed that these 2 groups were clearly distinguishable and that Mongolian specimens were characterized by an abundance of prim-O-glucosylcimifugin (1). Moreover, the OPLS-DA of the Mongolian specimens showed that they can be discriminated by their growing regions based on the content of 8 chromones. The total content of dihydrofurochromones 1-3 was relatively higher in the specimens from Khalkhgol in the far eastern part of Mongolia, while contents of 10, 11, 15, and 16 were higher in those from Holonbuir in the eastern part. Based on this research, the roots of S. divaricata from Mongolia have potential as a new resource of SR in Kampo medicine.

Pharmacological and Nutritional Effects of Natural Coumarins and Their Structure-Activity Relationships

Coumarins are fused benzene and pyrone ring systems with a wide spectrum of bioactivities, including antitumor, anti-inflammation, antiviral, and antibacterial effects. In this paper, the current development of coumarin-based drugs is introduced, and their structure-activity relationship is discussed by reviewing the relevant literature published in the past 20 years. Coumarin molecules can be customized by the target site to prevent systemic side effects by virtue of structural modification. The ortho-phenolic hydroxyl on the benzene ring has remarkable antioxidant and antitumor activities. Coumarins with aryl groups at the C-4 position have good activities in anti-HIV, antitumor, anti-inflammation, and analgesia. C-3 phenylcoumarins have strong anti-HIV and antioxidant effects. Tetracycline pyranocoumarins can significantly inhibit HIV; osthol structural analogues have antimicrobial activity. Praeruptorin C and its derivatives play an important role in lowering blood pressure and dilating coronary arteries, and khellactone derivatives have significant inhibitory effects on AIDS, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. It is concluded that the specific site on the core structure of coumarin exhibits one or more activities due to the electronic or steric effects of the substituents. This review is intended to be conducive to rational design and development of more active and less toxic agents with a coumarin scaffold.

Praeruptorin A Inhibits Human Cervical Cancer Cell Growth and Invasion by Suppressing MMP-2 Expression and ERK1/2 Signaling

Praeruptorin A (PA) is a pyranocumarin present in the dried root of Peucedanumpraeruptorum Dunn that has anticancer effects against several types of cells. However, the effect of PA on human cervical cancer cells is unknown. Our results indicate that PA significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration, invasion, and wound closure of HeLa and SiHa cells, induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase, upregulated Rb, p16, p21 and p27 proteins and downregulated cyclin D1 and S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (Skp2) proteins. PA also significantly reduced expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and increased expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2). In addition, PA suppressed ERK1/2 activation and increased the effect of PD98059 (a specific MEK1/2 inhibitor) in downregulation of MMP-2 and upregulation of TIMP-2. PA treatment inhibited the effect of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) on upregulation of ERK1/2 activation, MMP-2 expression, cellular migration, and invasion of HeLa cells. Our findings are the first to demonstrate the activity of PA against cervical cancer cells, and suggest this agent has promise as a therapeutic agent in treatment of human cervical cancer.

Traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological properties of the genus Peucedanum: a review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The genus Peucedanum (Apiaceae) comprising more than 120 species is widely distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa. The ethnopharmacologial history of this genus indicated that some extracts of aerial and underground parts of several Peucedanum species have been used in folk medicine for treatment of various conditions, such as cough, cramps, pain, rheumatism, asthma and angina. This review focuses on ethnopharmacological uses of Peucedanum species, as well as the phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies on this genus. Through this review, I intend to highlight the known and potential effects of the Peucedanum species or their isolated compounds and show which traditional medicine uses have been supported by pharmacological investigations.

METHODS

Information on the Peucedanum species was collected from scientific journals, books, thesis and reports via a library and electronic search (using Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect). This review covers the available literature from 1970 to the end of September 2013.

RESULTS

Although, there are about 120 species in this genus, so far many species have received no or little attention and most of pharmacological studies were performed on just about 20 species. Many phytochemical investigations on this genus confirmed that Peucedanum species are rich in essential oils and coumarins. The present review article shows that Peucedanum species have a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities and the most reported activities of Peucedanum plants come back to the presence of coumarins, flavonoids, phenolics and essential oils.

CONCLUSIONS

The present review confirms that some Peucedanum species have emerged as a good source of the traditional medicine for treatment of inflammation, microbial infections, cardiopulmonary diseases and provides new insights for further investigations on isolated compounds, especially on praeruptorins, to find novel therapeutics and aid drug discovery. However, for using Peucedanum species to prevent and treat various diseases, additional pharmacological studies to find the mechanism of action, safety and efficacy of them before starting clinical trials are required.

Qualitative analysis and enantiospecific determination of angular-type pyranocoumarins in Peucedani Radix using achiral and chiral liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

Angular-type pyranocoumarins (APs), the derivatives of khellactone, are widely documented as the main active constituents in Peucedani Radix (Chinese name: Qian-hu). Owing to the natural occurrence of chiral centers, enantiomers of APs are extensively distributed in the original plant, and enantioselective performances have been definitely demonstrated for these enantiomers. In current study, the chemical characterization of the major and minor APs in Peucedani Radix was performed using ultra high performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and hybrid ion trap-orbitrap mass spectrometry. On the other hand, a heart-cut two-dimensional achiral-chiral liquid chromatography combining triple quadropole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry system (2D LC-MS/MS) was developed for simultaneous enantiospecific quantification of eighteen coumarins, including seven pairs of enantiomers. Eleven APs (1-11) were recruited to propose UV absorption characteristics and electrospray ionization fragmentation patterns of APs. A total of 42 components were categorized into APs based on their UV spectral properties and identified according to the proposed mass fragmentation pathways, while two linear-type furanocoumarins (12-13) were unambiguously assigned by further purification. A Capcell core RP-C18 column was employed in the primary LC dimension to achieve efficient racemic separation for the main chemical constituents (1-9 and 12-13) in Peucedani Radix, while a Chiralpak AD-RH column was utilized in the secondary dimension to contribute enantioselective separation for seven enantiomerically enriched components (1, 3 and 5-9). Collectively, the results provided the chemical evidences for revealing the material basis of the therapeutic effects of Peucedani Radix, and the developed 2D LC-MS/MS system in the present study is expected to be an ideal tool for the quality control of Peucedani Radix as well as a reliable technique for complex matrices containing both achiral and chiral components.

Osthol and curcumin as inhibitors of human Pgp and multidrug efflux pumps of Staphylococcus aureus: reversing the resistance against frontline antibacterial drugs

Curcumin and osthol are identified as NorA pump inhibitors.

Biological activities and pharmacokinetics of praeruptorins from Peucedanum species: a systematic review

Praeruptorins belonging to the angular-type pyranocoumarins are bioactive constituents that have been isolated from some Peucedanum species such as P. praeruptorum, which is used in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of cold, cough, upper respiratory infections, and so forth. Many reports have demonstrated that the beneficial pharmacological effects of P. praeruptorum root on cardiovascular, pulmonary, immune, and nervous system diseases were attributed to the presence of praeruptorins. The aim of this review is to explain the recent efforts of scientists in pharmacological screening of natural and synthetic praeruptorin derivatives, studying the mechanisms of some praeruptorins action, pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and relevant structure-activity relationships. Based on reported data about the pharmacological properties of praeruptorins and semisynthetic derivatives of them, it is hopeful that in the near future more studies focus on the discovery of the new application and therapeutic uses of these bioactive compounds and understanding the specific mechanisms of them. The present discusses the reports on molecular and biological activities of praeruptorins of the genus Peucedanum, from 1976 onwards.

Effects of (±)-praeruptorin A on airway inflammation, airway hyperresponsiveness and NF-κB signaling pathway in a mouse model of allergic airway disease

The root of Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn is a traditional Chinese medicine commonly used to treat asthma in China. (±)-praeruptorin A (PA) is the most abundant constituent of P. praeruptorum Dunn, the effects of which on asthma were investigated using a murine model of allergic airway disease. BALB/c mice were sensitized and challenged by ovalbumin to induce airway inflammation. PA was administered intragastrically before every OVA challenge. Airway responsiveness was measured by a lung function analysis system. The number of total leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid was counted using a hemocytometer, and differential cell counts were determined using Diff-Quick-stained smears. Histopathology of lung tissue was analyzed by hematoxylin-eosin and Congo red staining. Levels of inflammatory mediators in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and immunoglobulins in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The expression of pulmonary eotaxin was detected by immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. The activation of NF-κB was evaluated by electrophoretic mobility shift assay and western blot analysis. Compared with model group, PA significantly reduced airway hyperresponsiveness and airway eosinophilic inflammation, improved pathologic lesion of the lungs, reduced levels of interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-13 and LTC₄ in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and immunoglobulin (Ig) E in serum, and inhibited eotaxin protein and mRNA expression, IκBα degradation, NF-κB nuclear translocation, NF-κB DNA-binding activity and RelA/p65 phosphorylation in lung, which suggested that PA can significantly suppress OVA-induced airway inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in mice, showing great therapeutic potential for the treatment of allergic asthma.

Rapid Identification of two Species of Peucedanum by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detection-Electrospray Ionization Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The fragmentation behaviors of the angular- and linear-type coumarins from Peucedanum praeruptorum Dunn and P. decursivum (Miq.) Maxim were simultaneously investigated by HPLC-DAD/ESI-MSn. For more structural identification, the fragment ions were analyzed and some possible fragmentation pathways were proposed. Different positions and numbers of the substituent also led to different fragment behaviors. Two types of coumarins from P. praeruptorum and P. decursivum were structurally elucidated by these techniques. In addition, UV spectra were applied to support the MS analysis. This is the first time that the two types of coumarins from herbal extracts have been differentiated by HPLC-DAD/ESI-MSn. The method further illustrated the importance of the ESI-MSn technique in the identification of different types of coumarins and was applied for the rapid differentiation of the two herbs.

Antimicrobial and antiproliferative activity of Peucedanum nebrodense (Guss.) Strohl

Acetone extract of Peucedanum nebrodense (Guss.) Strohl., a rare endemic species from the Madonie mountains (Sicily), was tested in vitro for its antimicrobial activity against bacterial reference strains and antiproliferative activity against K562 (human chronic myelogenous leukemia), HL-60 (human leukemia) and L1210 (murine leukemia) cell lines. The acetone extract showed antiproliferative IC50 values in the range of 14-0.27 microg/ml.