Four new compounds with cytotoxic and neuroprotective activity from Notopterygium incisum

Abstract

Phytochemical research on an extract of Notopterygium incisum yielded twenty-four compounds ( 1 – 24 ), including four new compounds 7 , 10 , 13 and 17 . The structures of new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, and the absolute configuration of 5 were assigned via Mosher's method. In addition, compounds 2 , 9 , 19 and 24 were analyzed by single crystal X-ray analysis for the first time. The new compound 7 exhibited remarkable cytotoxic activity against the human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1, CAPAN-2, CFPAC-1, and SW1990 with IC 50 values of 6.25 ± 0.54, 7.74 ± 1.12, 6.68 ± 1.11, and 5.35 ± 0.33 μM, respectively. The primary mechanistic study indicated that 7 caused cell death probably due to induced defects in the mitotic process. Moreover, compounds 2 and 7 - 9 effectively protected against H 2 O 2 -induced neurotoxicity in the SH-SY5Y cells, and 1 , 3 , 6 , 10 , 11 , 16 and 19 exhibited strong DPPH scavenging ability. • Four undescribed and twenty known compounds were reported. • Compound 7 displayed cytotoxicity against four pancreatic cancer cell lines. • Coumarins protected against H 2 O 2 -induced neurotoxicity in the SH-SY5Y cells.