The Pentagon, Starfish Active Ingredients Research

Anthenea chinensis, belonging to the Echinodermata phylum, Asteroidea class, Oreasteridae family, is an abundant starfish distributed in South China Sea and East China Sea. However, no chemical studies has been reported on the title animal up to date.In this thesis, the EtOH extract was chromatographed on the normal-phase silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, reversed-phase ODS and HPLC to yeild 12 compounds. On the basis of chemical evidence and spectral analysis, especially by 2D NMR techniques, the structures of twelve compounds were elucidated, including ten polyhydroxy-steroidal glycosides:(20R,24R)-16-O-(4-O-methyl-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-p-D-galacto pyranosyl)-24-ethyl-5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3α,6β,7β,16α-tetrol (2), (20R,24R)-7-O-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)-16-O-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)-24-ethyl-5α-c holest-8(14)-en-3α,6β,7β,16α-tetrol (3), (20R,24R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofur anosyl(1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)]-24-ethyl-5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3α,6β, 7β,16α-tetrol (4), (20R,24ξ)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl (1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)]-24-methyl-5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3β,4β,6β,7β,16α-pentol (6), (20R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl(1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofu ranosyl)]-5α-cholest-8(14),24(28)-diene-3α,6β,7β,16α-tetrol (7), (20R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl(1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)]-5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3β,4β,6β,7β,16α-pentol (8), (20R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl (1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)]-5α-cholest-8(14)-en-3α,6β,7β,16α-tetrol (9), (20R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl(1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofu ranosyl)]-5a-cholest-8(14),24(28)-diene-3p,6p,7p,16a-tetrol (10), (20R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl(1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)]-5α-cholest-8 (14)-en-3β,6β,7β,16α-tetrol (11), (20R)-16-O-[6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl(1â†'3)-(6-O-methyl-β-D-galactofuranosyl)]-5α-cholest-8(14),24(28)-diene-3β,6β,7β,16α-tetr ol (12). All the glycosides are new compounds.Five polyhydroxysteroidal glycosides 2,3,4,7 and 9 showed activity against the tumor cells. The preliminary cytotoxic assay of five new compounds exhibit significant cytotoxicity against cultured tumor cell lines K-562 and BEL-7402. Compounds 2 and 3 also showed cytotoxicity against human tumor U87MG cells and activity to promot polymerization of tubulin.Our studies focused on bioactive glycosides of starfish have provided valuable leads for pursuing new antitumor drugs, and established a homebase for further development of the starfish (Anthenea chinensis) with abundant resources in South China Sea.