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Hypoglycaemic effect of stigmast‐4‐en‐3‐one and its corresponding alcohol from the bark of Anacardium occidentale (cashew)
Author(s) -
AlexanderLindo Ruby Lisa,
Morrison E.Y. St. A.,
Nair Muraleedharan G.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
phytotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1573
pISSN - 0951-418X
DOI - 10.1002/ptr.1459
Subject(s) - anacardium , bark (sound) , anacardiaceae , traditional medicine , chemistry , alcohol , pharmacognosy , biological activity , botany , medicine , biology , biochemistry , in vitro , horticulture , ecology
Abstract Intravenous administration of the hexane extract of the bark of Anacardium occidentale (cashew) in normal, healthy dogs produced a signicant lowering of the blood glucose levels. Pursuit of the hypoglycaemic principle(s) in the hexane extract resulted in the isolation and characterization of two compounds, stigmast‐4‐en‐3‐ol (1) and stigmast‐4‐en‐3‐one (2). These compounds were puried by chromatographic methods and the structures were characterized by spectroscopic methods. Both compounds produced signicant hypoglycaemic activity after intravenous administration at a dose of 1.3 mg/kg body weight. The bark of the cashew plant, A. occidentale , exhibited a hypoglycaemic effect probably due to the presence of these compounds. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.