Cytotoxic triterpenoid saponins from Thalictrum atriplex

Abstract

Two new cycloartane glycosides, cycloatriosides A and B (1–2), and a new oleanolic acid glycoside, thaliatrioside A (3), along with 7 known triterpenoids (4–10) were isolated from Thalictrum atriplex. The structures of the new compounds were established as 3-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl (20S, 24 R)-3β,16β,25,29-tetrahydroxy-20,24-epoxycycloartane-29-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-arabinopyranosyl-3β,22ξ,30-trihydroxycycloart-24-en-21-oic acid α-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1→6)-β-D-glucopyranoside (2) and 3-O-[α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→3)-β-D-xylopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1→2)-α-L-arabinopyranosyl]-oleanolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl ester (3) on the basis of extensive NMR and HR-ESI-MS analyses, along with acid hydrolysis. Their cytotoxic activities against human lung cancer cells A549 and human breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 were evaluated using MTT method. Compound 9 showed cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 cell line with the IC₅₀ value of 72.53 ± 1.08 μM.

Keywords:

• Thalictrum atriplex
• cycloartane triterpenoid
• oleanolic acid triterpenoid
• saponin
• cytotoxic effect

Disclosure statement

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (81774005), Chongqing Special Postdoctoral Science Foundation (XmT2018083), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, SWU (XDJK2019C058) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M653820XB).