Terpenoids and Glycolipids from Euphorbiaceae

摘要

The family Euphorbiaceae is widely distributed throughout both hemispheres and ranges innmorphological form from large desert succulents to trees and even small herbaceous types. Many speciesncontain a milky juice which is more or less toxic, especially for cold-blooded animals, and can produce andermatitis similar to that from poison ivy.nSeparation procedures and characterization of the less polar fractions of the plant extracts have been widelyndescribed in the literature for their content in diterpene derivatives.nIn the continuing research on biologically active compounds from Euphorbiaceae, a series of studies on thenisolation and structure elucidation of glyceroglycolipids (GGLs) and glycosphingolipids (GSLs) have beenncarried out in order to develop the novel medicinal resources from natural Euphorbiaceae products.nGlyceroglycolipids are major constituents of the chloroplast membrane in the plant kingdom. Recently,nglycolipids were found to possess antitumor-promoting activity while glyceroglycolipids isolated fromnEuphorbiaceae have shown an interesting anti-inflammatory activity in vivo.nGlycosphingolipids are present at the outer layer of the lipid-bilayer in biological membranes and are thoughtnto partecipate in antigen-antibody reactions and transmission of biologically informations. Sphingolipidnbreakdown products, sphingosine and lysosphingolipids, inhibit protein kinase C, a pivotal enzyme in cellnregulation and signal transduction. Sphingolipids and lysosphingolipids affect significantly cellularnresponses and exhibit antitumor promoter activities in various mammalian cells. These molecules maynfunction as endogenous modulators of cell function and possibly as second messengers.