Monoterpenoid indole alkaloids with potential neuroprotective activities from the stems and leaves of Melodinus cochinchinensis

Abstract

A chemical study on the stems and leaves of Melodinus cochinchinensis resulted in the isolation and identification of a new monoterpenoid indole alkaloid, melodicochine A (1), together with seven known monoterpenoid indole alkaloids (2–8). The chemical structure of 1 was elucidated on the basis of extensive spectral data analyses and the known compounds were identified by comparing their experimental spectral data with the reported data in the literature. All isolated indole alkaloids were evaluated for their neuroprotective effects against 6-hydroxydopamine induced cell death in human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells in vitro. Monoterpenoid indole alkaloids 1–8 exhibited notable neuroprotective effects with EC₅₀ values in range of 0.72 ± 0.06 to 17.89 ± 0.16 μM.

Keywords:

• Melodinus cochinchinensis
• indole alkaloid
• melodicochine A
• neuroprotective effects

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21662011, 21967008, 22067005 and 32070390), the Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province (No. 2019RC198 and 220RC596), the Key Research and Development Project of Haikou (No. 2020054) and the Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Project (No. 202011658003S, 202011658012, S202011658009S and S202011658029).