Lipoxygenase inhibitory activity of Cuspidaria pulchra and isolated compounds.

This work evaluated the in vitro inhibitory activity of the crude ethanolic extract from the aerial parts of Cuspidaria pulchra (Cham.) L.G. Lohmann against 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX). The bioassay-guided fractionation of the n-butanol fraction, which displayed the highest activity, led to the isolation of three compounds: caffeoylcalleryanin (1), verbascoside (2) and 6-hydroxyluteolin-7-O-β-glucoside (3). Assessment of the ability of the isolated compounds to inhibit 15-LOX revealed that compounds 1, 2 and 3 exerted strong 15-LOX inhibitory activity; IC50 values were 1.59, 1.76 and 2.35 μM respectively. The XTT assay showed that none of the isolated compounds seemed to be significantly toxic.