Tomato New Sapogenols, Isoesculeogenin A and Esculeogenin B

Lycoperoside H, a Tomato Seed Saponin, Improves Epidermal Dehydration by Increasing Ceramide in the Stratum Corneum and Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Effect

Tomatoes are widely consumed, however, studies on tomato seeds are limited. In this study, we isolated 11 compounds including saponins and flavonol glycosides from tomato seeds and evaluated their effects on epidermal hydration. Among the isolated compounds, tomato seed saponins (10 µM) significantly increased the mRNA expression of proteins related to epidermal hydration, including filaggrin, involucrin, and enzymes for ceramide synthesis, by 1.32- to 1.91-fold compared with the control in HaCaT cells. Tomato seed saponins (10 µM) also decreased transepidermal water loss by 7 to 13 g/m²·h in the reconstructed human epidermal keratinization (RHEK) models. Quantitative analysis of the ceramide content in the stratum corneum (SC) revealed that lycoperoside H (1–10 µM) is a promising candidate to stimulate ceramide synthesis via the upregulation of ceramide synthase-3, glucosylceramide synthase, and β-glucocerebrosidase, which led to an increase in the total SC ceramides (approximately 1.5-fold) in concert with ceramide (NP) (approximately 2-fold) in the RHEK models. Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects of lycoperoside H demonstrated that lycoperoside H is suggested to act as a partial agonist of the glucocorticoid receptor and exhibits anti-inflammatory effects (10 mg/kg in animal test). These findings indicate that lycoperoside H can improve epidermal dehydration and suppress inflammation by increasing SC ceramide and steroidal anti-inflammatory activity.

Lycoperoside H, a steroidal alkaloid saponin in tomato seeds, ameliorates atopic dermatitis-like symptoms in IL-33 transgenic mice

Tomato seeds contain steroidal saponins called lycoperosides. However, it currently remains unclear whether lycoperosides exert anti-inflammatory or anti-allergic effects. Therefore, we herein investigated the effects of tomato seed extract (TSE) and lycoperoside H (LH) in Interleukin (IL)-33 transgenic mice. TSE (500 mg/kg) or LH (10 mg/kg) was orally administered once a day for 101 days and then evaluated mouse behavior, skin symptoms, and blood and skin inflammatory cytokines. TSE slightly suppressed scratching behavior, while TSE and LH both increased locomotive activity. LH also significantly suppressed inflammation scores in the limbs, and TSE and LH reduced transepidermal water loss. Epidermal hyperplasia and the accumulation of eosinophils and mast cells were decreased by TSE and LH. Skin Th2/Th1 cytokine ratio and serum IgE concentrations were significantly reduced by TSE and LH. The present results suggest that the oral administration of LH derived from tomato seeds effectively ameliorates the symptoms of atopic dermatitis. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: It has been reported that tomato seeds contain steroidal saponins, lycoperosides, though the effects of lycoperosides on anti-inflammatory or anti-allergic have not yet been revealed. In this study, we demonstrated that the oral administration of lycoperoside H derived from tomato seeds suppressed atopic dermatitis symptoms in IL-33 transgenic mice.

The tomato saponin, esculeoside A

Esculeoside A (2), a spirosolane steroidal glycoside, is a major constituent isolated from Solanum lycopersicum, a commercial strain of mini tomatoes. The content variability of esculeoside A (2) was examined in mini, midi, and Momotaro tomatoes and various processed tomato products. In the green immature tomato fruit, tomatine (1) is oxidized at C-23 and C-27 to produce esculeoside A (2) in the ripe fruit. Further, esculeoside A (2) is partly converted to 3β-hydroxy-5α-pregn-16-en-20-one 3-O-β-lycotetraoside (6), a pregnane glycoside, in the overripe fruit. Esculeogenin A (3), the sapogenol of 2, is easily converted into 3β,16β-dihydroxy-5α-pregn-20-one (17). Metabolic studies showed excretion of androstane derivatives in the urine of human volunteer subjects after tomato consumption. Esculeogenin A (3) inhibited the accumulation of cholesterol esters in macrophages through its effects on acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyl transferase (ACAT). Oral administration of esculeoside A (2) to apoE-deficient mice significantly reduced serum levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL-cholesterol and ameliorated the severity of atherosclerotic lesions.

Distinction of Absolute Configuration at C-22 of C-23-Hydroxyspirostane and C-23-Hydroxyspirosolane Glycosides

It has been revealed that the absolute configurations at C-22 of 23-hydroxyspirostane and 23-hydroxyspirosolane could be unambiguouly judged by the (1)H- and (13)C-NMR spectroscopies.

A liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based metabolome database for tomato

For the description of the metabolome of an organism, the development of common metabolite databases is of utmost importance. Here we present the Metabolome Tomato Database (MoTo DB), a metabolite database dedicated to liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)- based metabolomics of tomato fruit (Solanum lycopersicum). A reproducible analytical approach consisting of reversed-phase LC coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight MS and photodiode array detection (PDA) was developed for large-scale detection and identification of mainly semipolar metabolites in plants and for the incorporation of the tomato fruit metabolite data into the MoTo DB. Chromatograms were processed using software tools for mass signal extraction and alignment, and intensity-dependent accurate mass calculation. The detected masses were assigned by matching their accurate mass signals with tomato compounds reported in literature and complemented, as much as possible, by PDA and MS/MS information, as well as by using reference compounds. Several novel compounds not previously reported for tomato fruit were identified in this manner and added to the database. The MoTo DB is available at http://appliedbioinformatics.wur.nl and contains all information so far assembled using this LC-PDA-quadrupole time-of-flight MS platform, including retention times, calculated accurate masses, PDA spectra, MS/MS fragments, and literature references. Unbiased metabolic profiling and comparison of peel and flesh tissues from tomato fruits validated the applicability of the MoTo DB, revealing that all flavonoids and alpha-tomatine were specifically present in the peel, while several other alkaloids and some particular phenylpropanoids were mainly present in the flesh tissue.