Anti-Inflammatory Components from the Root of Solanum erianthum

Two new norsesquiterpenoids, solanerianones A and B (1-2), together with nine known compounds, including four sesquiterpenoids, (-)-solavetivone (3), (+)-anhydro-beta-rotunol (4), solafuranone (5), lycifuranone A (6); one alkaloid, N-trans-feruloyltyramine (7); one fatty acid, palmitic acid (8); one phenylalkanoid, acetovanillone (9), and two steroids, beta-sitosterol (10) and stigmasterol (11) were isolated from the n-hexane-soluble part of the roots of Solanum erianthum. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of physical and spectroscopic data analyses. The anti-inflammatory activity of these isolates was monitored by nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells. The cytotoxicity towards human lung squamous carcinoma (CH27), human hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep 3B), human oral squamous carcinoma (HSC-3) and human melanoma (M21) cell lines was also screened by using an MTT assay. Of the compounds tested, 3 exhibited the strongest NO inhibition with the average maximum inhibition (E-max) at 100 mu M and median inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 98.23% +/- 0.08% and 65.54 +/- 0.18 mu M, respectively. None of compounds (1-9) was found to possess cytotoxic activity against human cancer cell lines at concentrations up to 30 mu M.