A new isoflavonol and other constituents from Cameroonian propolis and evaluation of their anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antioxidant potential

Propolis is rich in diverse bioactive compounds. Propolis samples were collected from three localities of Cameroon and used in the study. Column chromatography separation of propolis MeOH:DCM (50:50) extracts yielded a new isoflavonol, 2-hydroxy-8-prenylbiochanin A (1) alongside 2′,3′-dihydroxypropyltetraeicosanoate (2) and triacontyl p-coumarate (3) isolated from propolis for first time together with seven compounds: β-amyrine (4), oleanolic acid (5), β-amyrine acetate (6), lupeol (7), betulinic acid (8), lupeol acetate (9) and lupenone (10). These compounds were tested for their inhibitory effect on oxidative burst where intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were produced from zymosan stimulated human whole blood phagocytes and on production of nitric oxide (NO) from lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated J774.2 mouse macrophages. The cytotoxicity of these compounds was evaluated on NIH-3 T3 normal mouse fibroblast cells, antiradical potential on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazylhydrazyl (DPPH·) as well as their anti-yeast potential on four selected candida species. Compound 1 showed higher NO inhibition (IC(50) = 23.3 ± 0.3 µg/mL) than standard compound L-NMMA (IC(50) = 24.2 ± 0.8 µg/mL). Higher ROS inhibition was shown by compounds 6 (IC(50) = 4.3 ± 0.3 µg/mL) and 9 (IC(50) = 1.1 ± 0.1 µg/mL) than Ibuprofen (IC(50) = 11.2 ± 1.9 µg/mL). Furthermore, compound 1 displayed moderate level of cytotoxicity on NIH-3 T3 cells, with IC(50) = 5.8 ± 0.3 µg/mL compared to the cyclohexamide IC(50) = 0.13 ± 0.02 µg/mL. Compound 3 showed lower antifungal activity on Candida krusei and Candida glabrata, MIC of 125 μg/mL on each strain compared to 50 μg/mL for fuconazole. The extracts showed low antifungal activities ranging from 250 to 500 μg/mL on C. albicans, C. krusei and C. glabrata and the values of MIC on Candida parapsilosis were 500 μg/mL and above. DPPH* scavenging activity was exhibited by compounds 1 (IC(50) = 15.653 ± 0.335 μg/mL) and 3 (IC(50) = 89.077 ± 24.875 μg/mL) compared to Vitamin C (IC(50) = 3.343 ± 0.271 μg/mL) while extracts showed moderate antiradical activities with IC(50) values ranging from 309.31 ± 2.465 to 635.52 ± 11.05 µg/mL. These results indicate that compounds 1, 6 and 9 are potent anti-inflammatory drug candidates while 1 and 3 could be potent antioxidant drugs.