Abstract
Plants of the Amaryllidaceae family are promising therapeutic tools for human diseases and have been used as alternative medicines. The specific secondary metabolites of this plant family, called Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AA), have attracted considerable attention due to their interesting pharmacological activities. One of them, galantamine, is already used in the therapy of Alzheimer’s disease as a long acting, selective, reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase. One group of AA is the montanine-type, such as montanine, pancracine and others, which share a 5,11-methanomorphanthridine core. So far, only 14 montanine-type alkaloids have been isolated. Compared with other structural-types of AA, montanine-type alkaloids are predominantly present in plants in low concentrations, but some of them display promising biological properties, especially in vitro cytotoxic activity against different cancerous cell lines. The present review aims to summarize comprehensively the research that has been published on the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids of montanine-type.
Highlights
Amaryllidaceae is a family of monocotyledonous plants that are widely distributed over the tropical and warm regions of the world, especially in the southern African region
Cytotoxicities, expressed as 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50 ) values, for the antiproliferative activity of montanine-type AA in vitro against different cancer and non-cancer cell lines are summarized in WST-1 and MTT to formazan by mitochondrial dehydrogenases or an alternative quantitative assay based on the measurement of cellular protein content, using the protein-binding dye sulforhodamine units, unless otherwise stated
The antiproliferative effect of coccinine reported in this study revealed this montanine-type alkaloid as being the more promising anticancer agent
Summary
Amaryllidaceae is a family of monocotyledonous plants that are widely distributed over the tropical and warm regions of the world, especially in the southern African region. The medicinal properties of these plants were already known in the fourth century B.C., when Hippocrates of Cos used oil from the daffodil Narcissus poeticus to treat uterine tumors [12,13] This plant was described in the Bible as a treatment of symptoms related to cancer [13]. Amaryllidaceae alkaloids are synthesized within the norbelladine pathway from the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine, which are used to produce key intermediates in the biosynthesis of 40 -O-methylnorbelladine [15]. This key intermediate is formed through the condensation of 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde ( known as protocatechuic acid; 3,4-DHBA) produced from.
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