Abstract
Dictamnine, a furoquinoline alkaloid of the Rutaceae plant family, has been shown to be mutagenic and phototoxic in bacteria and yeasts. Here, we have investigated the phototoxic effect of dictamnine in human Jurkat T cells and HaCaT keratinocytes. Dictamnine was isolated from the roots of Dictamnus alba L. and was photoactivated with solar simulated radiation, delivered from a 1000-W xenon arc lamp with a maximal output between 300 - 800 nm. Dictamnine displayed concentration- and light-dependent phototoxic effects in both cell lines. In comparison to the structurally related furocoumarins 5-methoxypsoralen and 8-methoxypsoralen, dictamnine was less phototoxic. Nevertheless, it may play a major role in the elicitation of phytophotodermatitis because of its abundance in plants of the Rutaceae family.
References
-
1
Sommer R G, Jillson O F.
Phytophotodermatitis (solar dermatitis from plants). Gas plant and the wild parsnip.
N Engl J Med.
1967;
276
1484-6
-
2
Möller H.
Phototoxicity of Dictamnus alba
.
Contact Dermatitis.
1978;
4
264-9
-
3
Schempp C M, Sonntag M, Schöpf E, Simon J C.
Bullous phototoxic contact dermatitis caused by Dictamnus albus L. (Rutaceae). Report on two cases and review of the literature.
Hautarzt.
1996;
47
708-10
-
4
Heskel N S, Amon R B, Storrs F J, White CR J r.
Phytophotodermatitis due to Ruta graveolens
.
Contact Dermatitis.
1983;
9
278-80
-
5
Schempp C M, Schöpf E, Simon J C.
Bullous phototoxic contact dermatitis caused by Ruta graveolens L. (garden rue), Rutaceae. Case report and review of the literature.
Hautarzt.
1999;
50
432-4
-
6
Towers G HN, Withehead F W, Abramowski Z A, Mitchell J C.
Dictamine, an alkaloid which crosslinks DNA in the presence of ultraviolet light.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun.
1980;
95
603-7
-
7
Pfyffer G, Pfyffer B U, Towers G HN.
Monoaddition of dictamnine to synthetic double-stranded polydeoxyribonucleotides in UVA and the effect of photomodified DNA on template activity.
Photochem Photobiol.
1982;
35
793-7
-
8
Towers G HN, Graham E A, Spenser I D, Abramowski A.
Phototoxic furanoquinolines of the Rutaceae.
Planta Med.
1981;
41
136-2
-
9
Ashwood-Smith M J, Towers G HN, Abramowski Z, Poulton G A, Liu M.
Photobiological studies with dictamnine, a furoquinoline alkaloid.
Mutat Res.
1982;
102
401-12
-
10
Schimmer O, Kuhne I.
Furoquinoline alkaloids as photosensitizers in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
.
Mutat Res.
1991;
249
105-10
-
11 Hofmann G. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, ein Testsystem für Photomutagene: Versuche zur Optimierung des Systems mit Hilfe von Furocumarinen und Furochinolinen [Dissertation]. Erlangen; University of Erlangen 1995
-
12
Schempp C M, Simon-Haarhaus B, Heine A, Schöpf E, Simon J C.
In vitro and in vivo activation of hypericin with the incoherent light source PDT 1200 SOA (520 - 750 nm) and with solar simulated radiation (290 - 2500 nm).
Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed.
1999;
5
13-7
-
13 Eilert U. Ruta. In: Blaschek W, Ebel S, Hackenthal E, Holzgrabe U, Keller K, Reichling J et al, editors Hagers Handbuch der Drogen und Arzneistoffe. Berlin Heidelberg; Springer 2004. Hager ROM 2004, HN: 2 031 600
-
14 Eilert U, Hoffmann-Bohm G. Dictamnus. In: Blaschek W, Ebel S, Hackenthal E, Holzgrabe U, Keller K, Reichling J et al, editors Hagers Handbuch der Drogen und Arzneistoffe. Berlin Heidelberg; Springer 2004. Hager ROM 2004, HN:2 007 100
Prof. C. M. Schempp
Department of Dermatology
University of Freiburg
Haupstr. 7
79104 Freiburg
Germany
Phone: +49-761-270-6701
Fax: +49-761-270-6829
Email: cschempp@haut.ukl.uni-freiburg.de
