O-Acetyljervine: A new β-adrenoceptor agonist fromVeratrum album

Therapeutic Potential of Steroidal Alkaloids in Cancer and Other Diseases

Steroidal alkaloids are a class of secondary metabolites isolated from plants, amphibians, and marine invertebrates. Evidence accumulated in the recent two decades demonstrates that steroidal alkaloids have a wide range of bioactivities including anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, etc., suggesting their great potential for application. It is therefore necessary to comprehensively summarize the bioactivities, especially anticancer activities and mechanisms of steroidal alkaloids. Here we systematically highlight the anticancer profiles both in vitro and in vivo of steroidal alkaloids such as dendrogenin, solanidine, solasodine, tomatidine, cyclopamine, and their derivatives. Furthermore, other bioactivities of steroidal alkaloids are also discussed. The integrated molecular mechanisms in this review can increase our understanding on the utilization of steroidal alkaloids and contribute to the development of new drug candidates. Although the therapeutic potentials of steroidal alkaloids look promising in the preclinical and clinical studies, further pharmacokinetic and clinical studies are mandated to define their efficacy and safety in cancer and other diseases.

The Veratrum and Solanum alkaloids

This survey on steroidal alkaloids of the Veratrum and Solanum family isolated between 1974 and 2014 includes 187 compounds and 197 references. New developments in the chemistry and biology of this family of natural products with a special focus on the medicinal relevance of the jervanine alkaloid cyclopamine are discussed.

Chemistry, bioactivity and geographical diversity of steroidal alkaloids from the Liliaceae family

Plants belonging to the Liliaceae family have been the topic of research in many phytochemical and pharmacological laboratories because they contain structurally complex and biologically fascinating steroidal alkaloids. This review, citing 153 references, summarises the chemistry, bioactivity and geographical diversity of steroidal alkaloids isolated from Veratrum and Fritillaria species, so as to illustrate the chemo-diversity and biological significance of these alkaloids, along with their geographical distribution where this is discernible.