抄録
Thirteen novel diarylheptanoids bearing a chalcone or a flavanone moiety (1-13), a new curcumin derivative, 1, 2-dihydrobis(de-O-methyl)curcumin(14), and two known flavonoids(15 and 16) isolated from the seeds of Alpinia blepharocalyx K. Schum. were tested for their inhibitory effects on nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccaride (LPS)-activated murine macrophages J774.1 in vitro. All the tested compounds inhibited NO production in a concentration-dependent manner (IC50=36-568 μM). Among the compounds examined, blepharocalyxin B (13) was the most potent inhibitor of NO production (IC50=36-568 μM). Analysis of the structure activity relationship among these novel diarylheptanoids led to the conclusion that the position of attachment of a chalcone or a flavanone to a diarylheptanoid does not affect their inhibitory potency although their presence in association causes a substantial enhancement of the inhibitory activity. Moreover, a conjugated double bond in a chalcone moiety potentiated the inhibitory activity. On the other hand, hexamethoxydeoxycalyxin A (17) and pentamethoxycalyxin B (18), a methylated product of calyxin A (1) and an epimeric mixture of calyxin B, showed greatly reduced activity suggesting that phenolic hydroxyl groups are involved in the inhibitory activity.
