Saponins biological activities

Among their diverse biological activities, saponins possess effective hypocholesterolemic action (Price et al., 1992). Saponin-cholesterol interaction is an important part of the hypocholesterolemic action of alfalfa but interactions of bile acids with other components of alfalfa might be equally important. Alfalfa plant and sprout saponin have been found to be effective in binding significant amounts of cholesterol (Wang and Ng, 1999). 

Anderson, L. Bohlin, L. lorizzi, M. Riccio, R. Minale, L. Moreno-Lopez, W. Biologically Active Saponins and Saponin-Like Compounds from Starfish and Brittle-Stars. Toxicon. 1989, 27, 179-188. 

Kubo et al. 74) further investigated these differences in saponin content and found that the saponins of Ginseng roots are localized outside the cambium, i. e., not in the xylem or pith but in the periderm and cortex. They mentioned that the peeling process for the production of White Ginseng results in a remarkable loss of the biologically active saponins and is therefore undesirable from the pharmaceutical point of view. 

Documented effects Other species of Polygala have been shown to contain biologically active saponins that exhibit significant immunological properties in vitro (Desbdne et al. 1999 Estrada et al. 2000). 

Wagner H, Ludwig C, Grotjahn L, Khan MSY (1987) Biologically active saponins from Dodonea viscosa. Phytochemistry 26 697-701... 

The utility of mass selective detection is greatest when analyzing compounds that do not contain chromophores or when structural information is needed for chemical identification. Triterpene saponins contain very weak chromophores and have long been associated with a variety of biological activities including... 

OLESZEK, W., Alfalfa saponins structure biological activity and chemotaxonomy. In Saponins Used in Food and Agriculture Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, (G. R. Waller and K. Yamasaki, eds.), Plenum Press, New York. 1996, pp. 155-170... 

Sun, H., Yang, Z., and Ye, Y. (2006). Structure and biological activity of protopanaxatriol-type saponins from the roots of Panax notoginseng. Int. Immunopharmacol. 6,14-25. 

Sparg SG et al (2004) Biological activities and distribution of plant saponins. J Ethnopharm 94 219... 

Grunweller, S., E. Schroder, and J. Kesselmeier. Biological activities of furostanol saponins from Nicotiana tabacum. Phytochemistry 1990 29(8) 2485-2490. 

Saponins (e.g., asiaticoside, 17) are widely distributed in plants as well as in some lower marine animals and possess a broad range of biological activities [62a], Examples of acylation of these complex molecules have been reported by different authors. For instance, the regioselective esterification of 17 by CalB was quite remarkable, and only the 4" -0-acetate (17a) was isolated in 59% yields [66]. 

ABSTRACT An overview of sulfur-containing natural products isolated from the marine invertebrate phyla that are commonly studied by natural products chemists, is provided. The material is arranged by phyla and sulfated compounds are included, except for the Echinodermata where sulfated saponins and steroids are specifically excluded. A total of 638 compounds and 530 references are recorded. The review covers the published literature up until the end of 2001. References to reported syntheses and comments on biological activities of metabolites are included. 

The numerous biological activities of saponins, as well as their widespread occurrence in the plants and the hundreds structures described so far, prompted the development of a strategy for their rapid, highly sensitive and, if possible, non degradative, structure elucidation. 

Yoshiki Y, Kodon S and Okubo K (1998) Relationship between chemical structures and biological activities of triterpenoid saponins from soybean. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 62, 2291-2199. 

Soy protein preparations contain a variety of biologically active compounds including saponins, fibers, trypsin inhibitors, and isoflavones (Potter, 2000). Hamsters and rats fed ethanol-extracted soy protein isolates had no ability to lower plasma cholesterol compared to intact soy protein isolates (Lucas et al., 2001 Ni et al., 1999). Extraction with ethanol is a treatment that would remove saponins, isoflavones, and other phytochemicals from the protein. Although one study showed that ethanol washing did not... 

De Marino, S., Iorizzi, M., Palagiano, E., Zollo, F., and Roussakis, C. Starfish saponins 55. Isolation, structure elucidation and biological activity of the steroid oligoglycosides from an Antarctic starfish of the family Asteriidae, J. Nat. Prod., 61, 1319, 1998. 

Alfhough bearing a sterane nucleus, fhe biosyntheses of cucurbitacins and dammaran-type saponins will not be reviewed here. Both groups belong to the triterpenoids, the chemistry, biosynthesis and biological activities of which have been described elsewhere (Charlwood and Banthorpe, 1991 ... 

Advances in research are performed on the genus Astragalus and about 100 different species have been chemically studied imtill now [249]. The genus appears highly uniform from a chemical point of view, with three kinds of biologically active principles and three diffent groups of toxic compounds. The active constituents are saponins, flavonoids, and polysaccharides, while nitro-compoimds, indolizidine alkaloids and the seleniferous derivatives are included in the poisonous groups. 

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