Inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase activity by compounds isolated from the aerial parts of Glycosmis stenocarpa

The aim of this study is to search for soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitors from natural plants, bioassay-guided fractionation of lipophilic n-hexane and chloroform layers of an extract of the aerial parts of Glycosmis stenocarpa led to the isolation of 12 compounds (1-12) including murrayafoline-A (1), isomahanine (2), bisisomahanine (3), saropeptate (4), (24 S)-ergost-4-en-3,6-dione (5), stigmasta-4-en-3,6-dion (6), stigmast-4-en-3-one (7), beta-sitosterol (8), 24-methylpollinastanol (9), trans-phytol (10), neosarmentol III (11) and (+)-epiloliolide (12). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. Among them, neosarmentol III (11) was isolated from nature for the first time. All the isolated compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory activity against sEH. Among isolated carbazole-type compounds, isomahanine (2) and bisisomahanine (3) were identified as a potent inhibitor of sEH, with IC50 values of 22.5 +/- 1.7 and 7.7 +/- 1.2 mM, respectively. Moreover, the inhibitory action of 2 and 3 represented mixed-type enzyme inhibition.