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Chemistry and bioactivity of withanolides from south american Solanaceae

2005; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s1572-5995(05)80072-9

2542-6621

Adriana S. Veleiro, Juan C. Oberti, Gerardo Burton,

Phytochemicals and Medicinal Plants

Since the isolation of withaferin A in 1965 over 300 withanolides have been described, largely from genera belonging to the Solanaceae. Although until the mid eighties most of the withanolides appeared to adhere to the basic structure of withaferin A, nowadays a considerable number of withanolides and withanolide related compounds are known, which present modified skeletons, aromatic rings, additional rings, etc., posing challenging problems of structure elucidation. Many of these structures coexist in the plants with "normal" withanolides and thus allow us to infer the biogenetic relationships among them and the transformations they suffer in the plant. As a further bonus, several species show marked seasonal and geographical variations in the amount and type of withanolides present, thus adding to the structural diversity. The latter is particularly noteworthy in (but not restricted to) species of the Jaborosa and Salpichroa genera. In recent years these genera, both native to South America, have rendered several novel withanolide types. Exodeconus, Dunalia, Deprea and Vassobia are other southamerican genera where unusual structures have also been found. Recently, some of the withanolides isolated from these plants have shown interesting biological activities as cancer chemopreventive agents (inductors of quinone reductase), as feeding deterrants for several insects, and displaying selective phytotoxicity towards monocotiledoneous and dicotiledoneous species. Trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activities have also been reported.