Cucurbitacins WGi

Different extracts obtained from species of Wilbrandia exhibited antiinflammatory activity when assayed in different experimental models of inflammation, such as carrageenan-induced rat hind paw edema, carrageenan-induced granuloma in rats, and acetic acid-induced vascular permeability in mice. The authors attributed the anti-inflammatory effect to the two nor-cucurbitacin glucosides isolated previously from the same source, namely cucurbitacins WGi and WG2, Fig. (10) [6]. 

Almeida et al. [6] thus tested a purified fraction from the rhizome of Wilbrandia sp. and demonstrated not only that the fraction inhibited KB cells with an effective concentration-50 (EC50) of 12 pg/ml, but also that it reduced the relative tumor weight of rats bearing Walker 256 carcinosarcoma by 65% [6,59]. These effects were thought to be due to the presence of cucurbitacins WGi and WG2 in the fraction, but the pure compounds were not tested. 

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