Planta Med 2014; 80 - PD69
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1382490

Antileishmanial activity of some abietane diterpenoids from the cones of bald cypress, Taxodium distichum

CB Naman 1, AD Gromovsky 1, CM Vela 1, JN Fletcher 1, X Zhu 1, G Gupta 2, S Varikuti 2, KA Werbovetz 1, AR Satoskar 2, AD Kinghorn 1
  • 1Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy
  • 2Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

From the activity-guided fractionation of Taxodium distichum L. Rich (Cupressaceae) collected in Ohio, three new compounds (1 – 3) were isolated along with 14 known natural products (4 – 17). These isolates are all highly oxidized diterpenes of the abietane class, including typical, rearranged, and seco-abietane diterpenoids. The isolation was directed by the bioactivity results of in vitro testing against Leishmania donovani promastigotes, one of the causative parasite species for the neglected tropical disease leishmaniasis. Compound 1 was shown to be active against L. donovani promastigotes and L. amazonensis amastigotes with IC50 values of 6.9µM and 1.8µM, respectively.