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Isopimpinellin
Isopimpinellin is a natural product synthesized by numerous plant species, especially species in the carrot family Apiaceae. The compound can be found in celery, garden angelica, parsnip, fruits and in the rind and pulp of limes. Several studies have looked into the effects of isopimpinellin and other furanocoumarins (such as bergamottin and imperatorin) as anticarcinogens. These studies have shown possible inhibition of 7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene, which are initiators of skin tumors. Evidence has also been reported that links these compounds to the inhibition of breast cancers. Biosynthesis Isopimpinellin is a furanocoumarin thought to be synthesized through the mevalonate pathway via addition of dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) to a modified coumarate known as umbelliferone Umbelliferone, also known as 7-hydroxycoumarin, hydrangine, skimmetine, and ''beta''-umbelliferone, is a natural product of the coumarin family. It absorbs ultraviolet light strongly at several w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garden Angelica
''Angelica archangelica'', commonly known as garden angelica, wild celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the family Apiaceae, a subspecies of which is cultivated for its sweetly scented edible stems and roots. Like several other species in Apiaceae, its appearance is similar to several poisonous species (''Conium'', '' Heracleum'', and others), and should not be consumed unless it has been identified with absolute certainty. Synonyms include ''Archangelica officinalis'' Hoffm. and ''Angelica officinalis'' Moench. Description and distribution During its first year, it grows only leaves, but during its second year, its fluted stem can reach a height of 2.5 meters (just over 8 feet), and the root is used in flavoring preparations. Its leaves consist of numerous small leaflets divided into three principal groups, each of which is again subdivided into three lesser groups. The edges of the leaflets are finely toothed or serrated. The flowers, which blossom in July, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lime (fruit)
A lime (from French language, French ''lime'', from Arabic ''līma'', from Persian language, Persian ''līmū'', "lemon") is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, lime (color), green in color, in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles. There are several species of citrus trees whose fruits are called limes, including the Key lime (''Citrus aurantiifolia''), Persian lime, kaffir lime, Makrut lime, and Citrus glauca, desert lime. Limes are a rich source of vitamin C, are sour, and are often used to accent the flavours of foods and beverages. They are grown year-round. Plants with fruit called "limes" have diverse genetic origins; limes do not form a monophyletic group. Plants known as "lime" The difficulty in identifying exactly which species of fruit are called lime in different parts of the English-speaking world (and the same problem applies to synonyms in other European languages) is increased by the botanical complexity of the citrus genus itself, to which the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apiaceae
Apiaceae or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering plants, with more than 3,700 species in 434 generaStevens, P.F. (2001 onwards)Angiosperm Phylogeny Website Version 9, June 2008. including such well-known and economically important plants as ajwain, angelica, anise, asafoetida, caraway, carrot, celery, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, lovage, cow parsley, parsley, parsnip and sea holly, as well as silphium, a plant whose identity is unclear and which may be extinct. The family Apiaceae includes a significant number of phototoxic species, such as giant hogweed, and a smaller number of highly poisonous species, such as poison hemlock, water hemlock, spotted cowbane, fool's parsley, and various species of water dropwort. Description Most Apiaceae are annual, biennial or perennial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Celery
Celery (''Apium graveolens'') is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae that has been cultivated as a vegetable since antiquity. Celery has a long fibrous stalk tapering into leaves. Depending on location and cultivar, either its stalks, leaves or hypocotyl are eaten and used in cooking. Celery seed powder is used as a spice. Description Celery leaves are pinnate to bipinnate with rhombic leaflets long and broad. The flowers are creamy-white, in diameter, and are produced in dense compound umbels. The seeds are broad ovoid to globose, long and wide. Modern cultivars have been selected for either solid petioles, leaf stalks, or a large hypocotyl. A celery stalk readily separates into "strings" which are bundles of angular collenchyma cells exterior to the vascular bundles. Wild celery, ''Apium graveolens'' var. ''graveolens'', grows to tall. Celery is a biennial plant that occurs around the globe. It produces flowers and seeds only during its second year. The first cul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parsnip
The parsnip (''Pastinaca sativa'') is a root vegetable closely related to carrot and parsley, all belonging to the flowering plant family Apiaceae. It is a biennial plant usually grown as an annual. Its long taproot has cream-colored skin and flesh, and, left in the ground to mature, it becomes sweeter in flavor after winter frosts. In its first growing season, the plant has a rosette of pinnate, mid-green leaves. If unharvested, in its second growing season it produces a flowering stem topped by an umbel of small yellow flowers, later producing pale brown, flat, winged seeds. By this time, the stem has become woody and the tap root inedible. The parsnip is native to Eurasia; it has been used as a vegetable since antiquity and was cultivated by the Romans, although some confusion exists between parsnips and carrots in the literature of the time. It was used as a sweetener before the arrival of cane sugar in Europe. Parsnips are usually cooked, but can also be eaten raw. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furanocoumarin
The furanocoumarins, or furocoumarins, are a class of organic chemical compounds produced by a variety of plants. Most of the plant species found to contain furanocoumarins belong to a handful of plant families. The families Apiaceae and Rutaceae include the largest numbers of plant species that contain furanocoumarins. The families Moraceae and Fabaceae include a few widely distributed plant species that contain furanocoumarins. Generally furanocoumarins are most abundant in plants that have flowered and in ripe seeds and fruits. (An exception is the common fig where furanocoumarins are found chiefly in the milky sap of the leaves and shoots but not the fruits. Cited in McGovern and Barkley 2000, section&nbsPhytophotodermatitis) During the early stages of plant growth, their presence is not easily detected. Structure The chemical structure of furanocoumarins consists of a furan ring fused with a coumarin. The furan ring may be fused in various ways producing several differen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bergamottin
Bergamottin (5-geranoxypsoralen) is a natural furanocoumarin found in the pulp of pomelos and grapefruits. It is also found in the peel and pulp of the bergamot orange, from which it was first isolated and from which its name is derived. Chemistry Bergamottin and dihydroxybergamottin are linear furanocoumarins functionalized with side chains derived from geraniol. They are inhibitors of some isoforms of the cytochrome P450 enzyme, in particular CYP3A4. This prevents oxidative metabolism of certain drugs by the enzyme, resulting in an elevated concentration of drug in the bloodstream. Under normal circumstances, the grapefruit juice effect is considered to be a negative interaction, and patients are often warned not to consume grapefruit or its juice when taking medication. However, some current research is focused on the potential benefits of cytochrome P450 inhibition. Bergamottin, dihydroxybergamottin, or synthetic analogs may be developed as drugs that are targeted to inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperatorin
Imperatorin is a furocoumarin and a phytochemical that has been isolated from ''Urena lobata'' L. (Malvaceae), ''Angelica archangelica'', '' Angelica dahurica'', '' Glehnia littoralis'', '' Saposhnikovia divaricata'', ''Cnidium monnieri'', '' Incarvillea younghusbandii'', and '' Zanthoxylum americanum mill''. It is biosynthesized from umbelliferone, a coumarin derivative. Isolation The procedure for the isolation of imperatorin from ''Urena lobata'' involves exhaustively extracting under reflux with benzene the air-dried and pulverised roots followed by separation by column chromatography.A furocoumarin, Imperatorin isolated from Urena lobata L. (Malvaceae) Keshab Ghosh Molbank 2004, M38 Open access (publishing), open access publication Biochemical activity Imperatorin was identified from a Bioactive Molecules library in a high throughput screening experiment for inhibitors of the phosphodiesterase PDE4. It displays a significant preference for PDE4B over PDE4A. See also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anticarcinogen
An anticarcinogen (also known as a carcinopreventive agent) is a substance that counteracts the effects of a carcinogen or inhibits the development of cancer. Anticarcinogens are different from anticarcinoma agents (also known as anticancer or anti-neoplastic agents) in that anticarcinoma agents are used to selectively destroy or inhibit cancer cells ''after'' cancer has developed. Interest in anticarcinogens is motivated primarily by the principle that it is preferable to prevent disease (preventive medicine) than to have to treat it ( rescue medicine). In theory, anticarcinogens may act via different mechanisms including enhancement of natural defences against cancer, deactivation of carcinogens, and blocking the mechanisms by which carcinogens act (such as free radical damage to DNA). Confirmation that a substance possesses anticarcinogenic activity requires extensive ''in vitro'', ''in vivo'', and clinical investigation. Health claims for anticarcinogens are regulated by v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene
7,12-Dimethylbenz 'a''nthracene (DMBA) is an immunosuppressor and a powerful organ-specific laboratory carcinogen. DMBA is widely used in many research laboratories studying cancer. DMBA serves as a tumor initiator. Tumor promotion Tumor promotion is a process in carcinogenesis by which various factors permit the descendants of a single initiated cell to survive and expand in number, i.e. to resist apoptosis and to undergo clonal growth. This is a step toward tumor progress ... can be induced with treatments of 12-''O''-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) in some models of two-stage carcinogenesis. This allows for a greatly accelerated rate of tumor growth, making many cancer studies possible. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene, 7,12- Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Carcinogens Anthracenes Immunosuppressants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mevalonate Pathway
The mevalonate pathway, also known as the isoprenoid pathway or HMG-CoA reductase pathway is an essential metabolic pathway present in eukaryotes, archaea, and some bacteria. The pathway produces two five-carbon building blocks called isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP), which are used to make isoprenoids, a diverse class of over 30,000 biomolecules such as cholesterol, vitamin K, coenzyme Q10, and all steroid hormones. The mevalonate pathway begins with acetyl-CoA and ends with the production of IPP and DMAPP. It is best known as the target of statins, a class of cholesterol lowering drugs. Statins inhibit HMG-CoA reductase within the mevalonate pathway. Upper mevalonate pathway The mevalonate pathway of eukaryotes, archaea, and eubacteria all begin the same way. The sole carbon feed stock of the pathway is acetyl-CoA. The first step condenses two acetyl-CoA molecules to yield acetoacetyl-CoA. This is followed by a second condensation to for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dimethylallyl Pyrophosphate
Dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP; or alternatively, dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMADP); also isoprenyl pyrophosphate) is an isoprenoid precursor. It is a product of both the mevalonate pathway and the MEP pathway of isoprenoid precursor biosynthesis. It is an isomer of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and exists in virtually all life forms. The enzyme isopentenyl pyrophosphate isomerase catalyzes isomerization between DMAPP and IPP. In the mevalonate pathway DMAPP is synthesised from mevalonic acid. In contrast, DMAPP is synthesised from HMBPP in the MEP pathway. At present, it is believed that there is crossover between the two pathways in organisms that use both pathways to create terpenes and terpenoid The terpenoids, also known as isoprenoids, are a class of naturally occurring organic chemicals derived from the 5-carbon compound isoprene and its derivatives called terpenes, diterpenes, etc. While sometimes used interchangeably with "terpenes" ...s, such as in plants, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
