The antiprotozoal activity of Papua New Guinea propolis and its triterpenes

Alenezi, Samya S. and Alenzi, Naif D. and Ebiloma, Godwin U. and Natto, Manal J. and Ungogo, Marzuq A. and Igoli, John O. and Ferro, Valerie A. and Gray, Alexander I. and Fearnley, James and de Koning, Harry P. and Watson, David G. (2022) The antiprotozoal activity of Papua New Guinea propolis and its triterpenes. Molecules, 27 (5). 1622. ISSN 1420-3049 (https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules27051622)

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Abstract

Profiling a propolis sample from Papua New Guinea (PNG) using high-resolution mass spectrometry indicated that it contained several triterpenoids. Further fractionation by column chromatography and medium-pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) followed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) identified 12 triterpenoids. Five of these were obtained pure and the others as mixtures of two or three compounds. The compounds identified were: mangiferonic acid, ambonic acid, isomangiferolic acid, ambolic acid, 27-hydroxyisomangiferolic acid, cycloartenol, cycloeucalenol, 24-methylenecycloartenol, 20-hydroxybetulin, betulin, betulinic acid and madecassic acid. The fractions from the propolis and the purified compounds were tested in vitro against Crithidia fasciculata, Trypanosoma congolense, drug-resistant Trypanosoma congolense, Trypanosoma b. brucei and multidrug-resistant Trypanosoma b. brucei (B48). They were also assayed for their toxicity against U947 cells. The compounds and fractions displayed moderate to high activity against parasitic protozoa but only low cytotoxicity against the mammalian cells. The most active isolated compound, 20-hydroxybetulin, was found to be trypanostatic when different concentrations were tested against T. b. brucei growth.

ORCID iDs

Alenezi, Samya S., Alenzi, Naif D. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9211-9735, Ebiloma, Godwin U., Natto, Manal J., Ungogo, Marzuq A., Igoli, John O., Ferro, Valerie A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1967-3603, Gray, Alexander I., Fearnley, James, de Koning, Harry P. and Watson, David G. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1094-7604;
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