Bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoids with potential anti-inflammatory and anti-HIV activities from the stems and leaves of Morinda citrifolia

Abstract

The phytochemical study on the stems and leaves of Morinda citrifolia L. resulted in the isolation of a new naturally occurring bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoid, morincitrinoid A (1), together with five known analogues (2–6). The chemical structure of 1 was elucidated by comprehensive spectral analyses. The known compounds 2–6 were identified by comparing their spectral data with those reported in the literature, which were isolated from M. citrifolia for the first time. In addition, the anti-inflammatory and anti-HIV activities of compounds 1–6 were evaluated in vitro. Compounds 1–6 displayed significant inhibitory activities on NO (nitric oxide) production induced by lipopolysaccharide in mouse macrophage RAW 264.7 cells with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.98 ± 0.07 to 6.32 ± 0.11 μM, which was comparable to hydrocortisone. Meanwhile, compounds 1–6 showed remarkable anti-HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) effects with the EC₅₀ values ranging from 0.16 to 6.29 μM.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Morinda citrifolia
• sesquiterpenoids
• morincitrinoid A
• anti-inflammatory activities
• anti-HIV effects

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the Key Research and Development Project of Hainan Province (Nos. ZDYF2019116 and ZDYF2019049), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21967008, 22067005 and 32070390), the Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province (Nos. 2019RC198 and 220RC596) and the Key Research and Development Project of Haikou (No. 2020054 and 2017050).