Project description:A new abietane diterpene namely plectrabarbene (2), together with two known compounds: sugiol (1) and 11,14-dihydroxy-8,11,13-abietatrien-7-one (3) have been isolated from the aerial parts of Plectranthus barbatus Andr. (Labiatae). The structures of these compounds were determined by various spectral techniques (e.g., UV, IR, NMR, and FAB) and by comparison with the literature data. A molecular docking study of the isolated diterpenes (1-3) was performed with AChE to gain an insight into their AChE inhibition mechanism. The results of docking experiments revealed that the all tested compounds showed binding affinity at the active site of AchE in comparison to donepezil.
Project description:Plectranthus barbatus also known by the synonym Coleus forskohlii it is called as forskohlii and Indian coleus. It is a tropical perennial herb belongs to the family Lamiaceae widely cultivated in India used as traditional medicinal crop. Its tuberous roots produce forskolin, an extract useful for pharmaceutical preparations and research in cell biology. The incidence of mosaic with dark and light green patches, mottling, leaf distortion and reduction growth was noticed in commercial cultivation of coleus. For identification of the virus, the infected leaf sample extract was mechanically inoculated to different hosts such as chilli, tobacco, tomato, cucumber, cowpea and Chenopodium amaranticolor. Host range studies revealed that the virus showed severe mosaic symptoms on Nicotiana spp. and Cucumis spp. The virus produced systemic and local lesion symptoms in a different host. The Leaf dip preparation of virus infected leaf extract was observed under an electron microscope showed the presence of isometric particles of 28 nm in size. The healthy and infected samples were tested using DAC-ELISA against antibodies of CMV, GBNV and TSV the infected samples showed strong positive reaction with 1.85 optical density to CMV antibodies indicated the presence of CMV. For molecular identification, total RNA was isolated and used for RT-PCR amplification using CMV specific primers. RT-PCR resulted in the positive amplification in virus infected samples but not from a healthy control. The complete genome of CMV RNA-1 consists of 3360 nucleotides (nt) encoding replicase gene of 807 amino acids (aa). The CMV RNA-2 was 2983 nt in length containing 2a (859 aa) encoding RNA dependent RNA polymerase protein and 2b encoding viral silencing suppressor (112 aa), while RNA-3 encoding 3a movement protein (280 aa) and coat protein (219 aa) was 2223 nt in length. Phylogenetic analyses of nucleotide sequences of coleus CMV isolate is closely related to subgroup IB than to subgroup IA or II with other CMV isolates. In recombination analysis, the recombination event occurs between the subgroups of I, II as well as IA and IB in RNA 1, RNA2 and RNA3 of coleus isolate with other CMV isolates. To best of our knowledge, this is the first report of CMV infection in coleus.
Project description:An in vitro skin diffusion study of pure forskolin (1) versus a 1-containing Plectranthus barbatus root extract (P. barbatus extract) in hairless guinea pig skin and human skin in a flow-through diffusion cell system was conducted and is being reported for the first time. Both topical agents were formulated in a solution of 70% ethanol and 30% propylene glycol (v/v). The results showed that forskolin can be delivered through the stratum corneum and that the flux of this compound was enhanced when 1 was delivered as a constituent of the P. barbatus extract as compared to an equivalent amount in pure form. These results suggest that the P. barbatus extract used contains permeation enhancement activity from other compound(s) contained in the crude root extract. It is possible that P. barbatus root extract may be used as an economical source of 1 to perform topical chemical manipulation of pigmentation in high-risk populations.
Project description:The Plectranthus genus is commonly used in traditional medicine due to its potential to treat several illnesses, including bacterial infections and cancer. As such, aiming to screen the antibacterial and cytotoxic activities of extracts, sixteen selected Plectranthus species with medicinal potential were studied. In total, 31 extracts obtained from 16 Plectranthus spp. were tested for their antibacterial and anticancer properties. Well diffusion method was used for preliminary antibacterial screening. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of the five most active acetonic extracts (P. aliciae, P. japonicus, P. madagascariensis var. "Lynne", P. stylesii, and P. strigosus) were determined. After preliminary toxicity evaluation on Artemia salina L., their cytotoxic properties were assessed on three human cancer cell lines (HCT116, MCF-7, and H460). These were also selected for mechanism of resistance studies (on NCI-H460/R and DLD1-TxR cells). An identified compound-parvifloron D-was tested in a pair of sensitive and MDR-Multidrug resistance cancer cells (NCI-H460 and NCI-H460/R) and in normal bronchial fibroblasts MRC-5. The chemical composition of the most active extract was studied through high performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD/UV) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Overall, P. strigosus acetonic extract showed the strongest antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential that could be explained by the presence of parvifloron D, a highly cytotoxic diterpene. This study provides valuable information on the use of the Plectranthus genus as a source of bioactive compounds, namely P. strigosus with the potential active ingredient the parvifloron D.
Project description:Four new para-benzoquinone containing abietane-type diterpenoids (1-4) along with thirteen known diterpenoids (5-17) were isolated from the roots of Plectranthus punctatus. The structures of the compounds were established by detailed spectroscopic analyses and comparison with literature data. The compounds were tested for their antibacterial and cytotoxic activity and showed significant inhibitory activity against all bacterial strains used, with compounds 6, 8, 10, and 11 showing an inhibition zone for Staphylococcus warneri even greater than the reference drug, gentamycin.