Trewioidesine A, an unsaturated fatty acid from rhizomes of Alchornea trewioides, shows synergy with NGF in inducing differentiation of pheochromocytoma PC12 cells

Abstract

A new unsaturated fatty acid trewioidesine A (1), together with seven known compounds (2 − 8) were isolated from the rhizomes of Alchornea trewioides (Benth.) Muell. Arg. Their structures were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data interpretation (1 D and 2 D NMR, and HRESIMS). The absolute configuration of 1 was determined by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations, confirming as trewioidesine A. The functionality of isolated compounds was tested in cultured PC12 cells, a cell line from rat pheochromocytoma. Trewioidesine A was the one showing robust activity in inducing neuronal differentiation: the induction was synergized when co-applied with nerve growth factor (NGF). In addition, a neurofilament 200 (NF200) promoter-luciferase (pNF200-Luc) reporter was used to evaluate the differentiating ability in the transfected PC12 cells for the isolated compounds. Trewioidesine A exhibited a strong NF200 promoter activation, and application of trewioidesine A with low dose of NGF significantly induced the promoter activity over 50%.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Alchornea trewioides
• phytochemical
• unsaturated fatty acid
• neuronal differentiation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (ZDSYS201707281432317; JCYJ20170413173747440; JCYJ20180306174903174).