Chimie médicale

Bergenin (1) was isolated as the major compound of the Roots of Cissus populnea. Its structure was elucidated on the basis of spectral analysis, including 1D and 2D NMR experiments and Mass Spectrometry (MS) as well as by comparison with available data in the literature. Bergenin (1) was evaluated for its antimicrobial activity against four bacteria strains (Salmonella typhi ATCC6539, Salmonella typhi (isolate), Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC9721 and Escherichia coli (isolate)) and four yeasts (Candida albicans ATCC9002, Candida parapsilosis ATCC22019, Candida krusei (isolate) and Candida albicans (isolate)) using micro broth dilution method and for its enzymatic activities against α-glucosidase and Alkaline Phosphatase (h-TNAP and h-IAP). It exhibited significant to moderate antibacterial activities with the MIC ranking from 8 to 64 μg.mL-1, while it appeared to be inactive (MIC>125 μg.mL-1) against all the tested yeast. However, it was found to be high potent inhibitor of both h-TNAP and h-IAP alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes, with a selectivity for the h-TNAP. Daucosterol (4) and a mixture of sitosterol (2+3) were also obtained and were screening for the same bioactivities.

In the last few decades, phytochemicals have potentially gained as an important place in cancer research. The interests for these compounds have grown by researchers, as these compounds have natural in origin and hence, no stipulated side effects are known. Currently, thousands of natural herbs based compounds have been screened for their novel efficiency to control cancer cell proliferation. Among these, a large number of natural compounds gained high preventive and therapeutic values against cancer and most potential compounds along of the are lupeol, saponins, flavanoids, curcumin, resveratrol, geneistein, gingerol, allyl sulfide, berberine, lycopene, bromelain, indole-3-carbinol and polyphenols. The recent research on phytochemicals towards evaluating the anticancer efficacy has been accelerated by development of biophysical technologies. However, several challenges still persist in cancer research like heterogeneity, development of novel phenotypes in cancer cell by therapeutic drugs and tumour recurrence. These challenges open a new dimension for cancer research, and also give weightage to explore the uses of specific phytochemicals in therapy. This review summarizes the latest research in cancer treatment using the bioactive components from medicinal plants.