Antiproliferative piperidine alkaloids from giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza)

The rhizome of giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhiza (L.) Schott), which is a highly adaptable wild plant, is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine. In the current study, the antiproliferative constituents of giant taro were investigated and six new (1???6) and four known piperidine alkaloids (7???10) were isolated from its rhizomes. Their chemical structures and absolute configurations were elucidated using various spectroscopic methods and the Mosher ester method. The isolated alkaloids were screened for the antiprolifer-ative activity through MTT assay. The results indicated that piperidine alkaloids exerted potential antiproliferative activity against HepG2, AGS and MCF-7 tumor cells. Further researches showed that compounds 3???5 dose-dependently decreased the colony forma-tion rate and induced the apoptosis of AGS cells, while compound 4 induced AGS cell death via the proapoptotic pathway. This study demonstrates that the piperidine alkaloids isolated from giant taro exhibit significant antitumor activity, which provides phytochemical evidence for further development and utilization.

Automated summary

This study discovered that the rhizomes of giant taro contain piperidine alkaloids with significant antitumor activity. Compounds 3-5 were found to reduce colony formation rate and induce apoptosis in AGS cells, while compound 4 induced cell death through the proapoptotic pathway.