The genus Gnetum is found in south America, southwest Africa, and in tropical and subtropical zones of Asia. It contains abundant stilbene derivatives which have interesting biological activities such as anti-carcinogenic and anti-inflammatory effects. Gnetol has been isolated extensively in the genus Gnetum, which is a standard inhibitor for murine tyrosinase activity with an IC50 of 4.5 μM[2]. Gnetol also potently inhibits COX-1 with an IC50 of 0.78 μM. Further, gnetol is found to be potent inhibitor of CYP3A4 with IC50 value of 0.425 ± 1.69 μM. It also inhibits CYP2D6, CYP1A2 and CYP2C9 with IC50 values of 25.1 ± 13.8, 2.26 ± 6.56 and 8.36 ± 2.07 μM, respectively. Gnetol (1 μg/mL) had a highly potent antiproliferative activity in the HCT-116 cells (colorectal carcinoma) indicating that gnetol would likely obtain the highest concentration in the colon[3]. In murine B16 melanoma cells, gnetol decreased the production of melanin in a concentration-dependent manner[2]. At the concentration of 200 µg/mL, gnetol offered cell protection of 54.3% against CCl4 treated BRL3A cell line showing that it exhibited a potent antioxidant activity offering protection to liver damage[4].
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