Vitamin D Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Vitamin D, including details on sources, melanin, benefits, deficiency, supplements, calcium absorption.

DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor, ergosterol peroxide from Penicillium oxalicum.

Kuo LM, Chen KY, Hwang SY, Chen JL, Liu YY, Liaw CC, Ye PH, Chou CJ, Shen CC, Kuo YH

National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

Recently, we found that the MeOH extract of Penicillium oxalicum showed inhibitory activity towards DNA topoisomerase I. Subsequently, ergosterol peroxide, ergosterol, palmitoleic acid, and linoleic acid were isolated from the cultured mycelia of P. oxalicum. The structural determinations were based on physical and spectral analyses. Biological evaluation revealed that ergosterol peroxide inhibited the relaxation of supercoiled DNA (pBR322) induced by DNA topoisomerase I, and also showed marginal, selective cytotoxic activity against human colon tumor cells [COLO-205 (ED50=8.56 microg/mL].

Published 28 January 2005 in Planta Med, 71(1): 77-9.
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