Antimicrobial and antiparasitic abietane diterpenoids from Cupressus sempervirens

ntimicrobial and antiparasitic abietane diterpenoids from Cupressus sempervirens Original Research (1951) Total Article Views Authors: Zhang J, Rahman AA, Jain S, Jacob MR, Khan SI, Tekwani BL, Ilias M Published Date April 2012 Volume 2012:2 Pages 1 - 6 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/RRMC.S29902 Received: 12 January 2012 Accepted: 03 February 2012 Published: 12 April 2012 Jin Zhang1,2, Aziz A Rahman3, Surendra Jain1, Melissa R Jacob1, Shabana I Khan1,4, Babu L Tekwani1,5, Ilias Muhammad1 1National Center for Natural Products Research, 2Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People's Republic of China; 3Department of Pharmacy, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi, Bangladesh; 4Department of Pharmacognosy, 5Department of Pharmacology, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA Abstract: Cupressus sempervirens L. (Cupressaceae) is a species of cypress native to the eastern Mediterranean region. The ethanol extract of the powdered cones (fruits) of this plant, collected from Oxford, Mississippi during the fall of 2010, exhibited potent antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities. Bioassay-guided fractionation using a centrifugal preparative thin-layer chromatography yielded two potent antileishmanial and antimicrobial diterpenes, 6-deoxytaxodione (11-hydroxy-7, 9(11), 13-abietatrien-12-one) (1) and taxodione (2), together with ferruginol (3) and sugiol (4). Compounds 1 and 2 displayed potent antileishmanial activity with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 0.077 μg/mL and 0.025 μg/mL, respectively, against Leishmania donovani promastigotes, compared to those of the standard antileishmanial drugs, pentamidine (IC50 1.62 μg/mL) and amphotericin B (IC50 0.11 μg/mL). Compounds 1–3 were also evaluated against L. donovani amastigotes in THP1 macrophage cultures. In addition, both 1 and 2 showed potent antibacterial activities (IC50 0.80 and 0.85 μg/mL) against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Compounds 1 and 2 had previously been isolated from Clerodendrum eriophyllum, where 2 showed potent cytotoxic activity. However, this is the first report of antimicrobial and antileishmanial activities of compound 1.