In a continuing effort to investigate biological activities of flavonoids, nine biflavonoids, isolated from three plant sources were evaluated for their suppressive effects on mouse lymphocyte proliferation.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
The biflavonoids tested were amentoflavone, bilobetin, ginkgetin, isoginkgetin, sciadopitysin, ochnaflavone, 4'-O-Methylochnaflavone, cryptomerin B and isocryptomerin. At 10 uM, several biflavonoids such as ginkgetin, isoginkgetin, ochnaflavone, cryptomerin B and isocryptomerin showed the suppressive activity against lymphocyte proliferation induced by Con A or LPS. Apigenin (flavone) and quercetin (flavonol) were suppressive against Con A-induced lymphocyte proliferation, but not against LPS-induced lymphocyte proliferation at the same concentration range. Biflavonoids were found to be irreversible inhibitors of lymphocyte proliferation.
CONCLUSIONS:
This is the first report describing the suppressive effects of naturally-occurring biflavonoids against lymphocyte proliferation. |