Use of Hernandia

The plants of Hernandiaceae comprise about sixty-five species in four generic kinds. The plants of Hernandia ovigera L. are widespread in the tropics and the subtropics. In Japan, these plants grow on the beaches of Okinawa and Ogasawara islands. In the Okinawa region, the plants have been used as therapeutic agents. A number of groups have been involved in the isolation and structure elucidation of aporphine-type and isoquinoline-type alkaloids from these plant materials as well... 

Five isoquinoline alkaloid dimers with pavine and tetrahydrobenzylisoquinoline moieties, known as hervelines A-D (VIII.1-VIII.4) and HB (VIII.5), have been isolated from the stem bark of Hernandia voyronii Jum. (8,9,48), used as an adjuvant to chloroquine in Malagasy herbal practice and against chronic malaria (8,9). Two of them, harvelines B (VIII.2) and C (VIII.3) reversed in vitro chloroquine resistance to the resistant strain of P. falciparum (9) and exhibited moderate antimalarial activity (8,9,48). Harveline HB (VIII.5), an alkaloid whose structure has not been determined, also potentiated the effect of chloroquine and showed weak in vitro cytotoxicity against HeLa cells (48). 

Tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) and other diterpene esters from the plant family Euphorbiaceae are well-known as tumor-promotion agents [85]. Thus, inhibition of the biological effects induced by TPA has been considered as a promising strategy [68]. To date, two short-term cell-based in vitro bioassays using TPA as a tumor-promoter have been developed to evaluate the potential cancer chemopreventive activities of several lignans isolated from Hernandia species, namely, inhibition of Epstein-Barr virus early antigen activation [6] and the inhibition of the transformation of JB6 mouse epidermal cells [7]. 

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