Phytomedicine
Kavalactones, mainly found in Piper methysticum, are a class of lactone compounds usually with an arylethylene-pyrone skeleton. Till now, fifty-one kavalactones have been isolated from the genera Piper, Alpinia, Amomum, Polygala, Goniothalamus, and Dumortiera. The bioactivities of six kavalactones, kawain, 7,8-dihydro- kawain, methysticin, dihydromethysticin, yangonin, and desmethoxyyagonin, have been studied extensively. This review aims to give an overview of kavalactones in the plants and their various bioactivities.
Thrombosis owns the highest incidence, and it is a serious threat to human health. Currently, the clinical antithrombotic drugs suffer from several drawbacks, causing allergic reactions or complications, etc. In recent years, small-molecule compounds isolated from natural products with antithrombotic activities in the field drug research on thrombus disease. In this review, we will focus on representative naturally occurring small molecule phenols with antithrombotic potency and potential for future therapeutic regimens to combat thrombosis disease.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a multi-drug resistant pathogenic bacteria, which has seriously threatened human health for a long time. Therefore, there is an urgent and unmet demand for new types of antibiotics. In response to the antibiotic resistance, many researchers have studied natural products derived from plant for alternative antibiotics and therapies. In this review, we summarized recent advances on anti-MRSA natural products from plants and their potential antibacterial effect against MRSA as potential anti-MRSA agents since 2007.
The walnut kernel has appeared on dining tables as a non-staple food and gained much popularity for centuries owing to its flavor as well as the function of food therapy, while the green husk or hard shells enwrapped are always discarded or processed into low value-added products. The waste of walnut green husk and shell can cause environment pollution and the waste of resources. As medicinal food, lots of researches on walnut have been carried out during the past decades, including the walnut kernel, the green husk and the hard shell. The researches on the green husk and hard shell showed the mass of chemical compounds isolated from both green husk and hard shell possesses various bioactivities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor, and other effects. In this paper, we summarized phytochemical compositions of green husk and hard shell of walnut (Junglans regia) as well as their bioactivities.
Natural Products from the genus Daldinia and Their Bioactivities
