One of the Korean mistletoe species, Loranthus yadoriki Sieb. exhibited potent inhibitory activities against monoamine oxidases

It is well known that Viscum album L. var. coloratum Ohwi has anticancer, hypotensive, antimicrobial and antivirus activities. The European mistletoe (V. album var. album) white fruit has been studied for its anticancer activity as it is widely used for the treatment of various malignant tumors and their supplement. Lectin and viscotoxin are the active anticancer ingredients. Homoflavoyadorinin-B was reported as an antioxidant component of the mistletoe, and oleanolic acid was also reported as an anticancer component. There are five kinds of Mistletoe species in Korea. Most of them have above constituents evenly besides only one species. One of the Korean mistletoes, Loranthus yadoriki was very different constituent pattern. There were no main indicational bioactive ingredients, such as lectin, homoflavoyadorinin-B, and oleanolic acid was also smaller amount other than species. To investigate the bioactivities of Loranthus yadoriki several bioassays were applied. Loranthus yadoriki showed potent inhibitory activity against both types of monoamine oxidases and dopamine beta hydroxylase. But Loranthus yadoriki did not inhibit NO production in the cell. We are isolating the bioactive compounds from this plant with MAO inhibitory activity as a guide assay.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by grants from Scientific research (KNA1–2-11,10–2) of Korea National Arboretum.

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