Cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory effects of lignans and diterpenes from Cupressus macrocarpa.

Cupressus macrocarpa is a windbreak tree and is reported to have various cytotoxic effects. A natural product study on the leaves of C. macrocarpa has yielded ten secondary metabolites, including three new diterpenoids (1-3), four known diterpenoids (4-7), and three known lignans (8-10). The structures of all isolated compounds were elucidated via the interpretation of spectroscopic methods, especially 2D NMR and mass analyses. In the cytotoxic assays, compounds 1-3 and 7-10 showed inhibition effect against HepG2, MDA-MB-231, and A549 cells with IC ₅₀ values ranging from 0.004 to 19.9 μg/mL. Moreover, the anti-inflammatory assays revealed that (-)-matairesinol (8) had significant inhibitory activities on superoxide anion generation (IC ₅₀  = 2.7 ± 0.3 μM) and elastase release (IC ₅₀  = 6.6 ± 0.7 μM).
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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