Maca (Lepidium meyenii Walp.), a famous food supplement, has drawn an unprecedented international interest over the last two decades. It was assumed that glucosinolates, macamides, macaenes, and alkaloids are the main bioactive components of Maca before. Recently, a series of novel thiohydantoins which generally exhibit a variety of activities have been isolated from Maca. This review focuses on the progress on the main bioactive components of Maca and their biosynthetic pathway, which indicates that macamides, thiohydantoins, and some alkaloids may originate from glucosinolates. Interestingly, thiohydantoins from Maca are the first type of thiohydantoin derivatives to be found from a natural source and may contribute to some significant effects of Maca.

In present study, four new dammarane-type triterpenoids, namely caffruones A-D (1-4), were isolated from the cherries of Coffea arabica. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis including 1D, 2D NMR (HSQC, HMBC, ¹H-¹H COSY, and ROESY), HRMS and IR spectra. This is the first time that tetracyclic triterpenes have been reported in genus Coffea.

One undescribed amide, pipermullesineA, two undescribed isoquinoline alkaloids, pipermullesines B and C, and six undescribed dipeptides, pipermullamides A-F, along with 28 known compounds, were isolated from the aerial parts of Piper mullesua. The structures of the undescribed compounds were elucidated based on the analysis of 1D and 2D NMR and MS data. Furthermore, the structures of pipermullesines A-C were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. All isolates were evaluated for inhibitory activity against platelet aggregation induced by thrombin (Ⅱa) or platelet-activating factor (PAF). (-)-Mangochinine, pellitorine, and (2E,4E)-N-isobutyl-2,4-dodecadienamide showed weak inhibitory activity against rabbit platelet aggregation induced by PAF, with IC₅₀ values of 470.3 μg/mL, 614.9 μg/mL, and 579.7 μg/mL, respectively.

Phytochemical investigation of the MeOH extract of twigs and leaves of Baeckea frutescens led to the isolation of seven new polymethylated phloroglucinol meroterpenoids (PPMs), named baeckfrutones M-S (1-7). Their structures and absolute configurations were determined by spectroscopic analyses, chiral-phase HPLC analysis, and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. PPM 1 is a novel meroterpenoid possessing a 6/6/5/3 tetracyclic skeleton in PPMs, whereas 3 and 4 are the first hydroxytasmanone type phloroglucinol-monoterpene hybrids. (+)-2 and 7 displayed potent antiinflammatory activity with IC₅₀ values of 20.86±0.60 and 36.21±1.18 lL, respectively.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the most serious microvascular complication during the development of diabetes with the characterizations of glomerular basement membrane thickening, mesangial expansion, and glomerular sclerosis, eventually leading to end-stage renal disease. This study aimed to investigate the melioration effect of Codonopisis tangshen Oliv. (COD) on the DKD model, which was established by unilateral nephrectomy (UN)-high fat diet feeding (HFD) combined with streptozotocin (STZ). After the DKD rats were oral treated with COD at a dose of 2.7 mg/kg for 4 consecutive weeks, the blood glucose, lipid metabolism, renal function, inflammatory mediators, and fibrosis-associated proteins were examined. In vivo, the COD administration obviously relieved the weight loss, water intake, and blood glucose; decreased the total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels; and improved the renal function by reducing the expression of serum creatinine, uric acid, and urinary protein compared with the model group. The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and IL-6 were significantly inhibited by COD. Meanwhile, the deposition of collagen fiber was markedly increased, and the protein and mRNA expressions of transforming growth factor-β1 and α-smooth muscle actin were markedly elevated in DKD rats, but they were decreased to some extent after the COD treatment. In conclusion, COD exhibited a protective effect on the UN-HFD feeding combined with STZ-induced DKD model by improving the blood glucose and lipid metabolism, relieving the inflammatory response, and mitigating the renal fibrosis, which provided scientific evidence for its applications in clinic.

Carnosic acid was used as starting material to synthesize royleanone derivatives featured C11-C14 para quinone. The importance of C-20 group of royleanone derivatives was verified by the cytotoxicity assay of royleanonic acid, miltionone I and deoxyneocrptotanshinone. Following our synthetic route, 15 amide derivatives were synthesized and 8 compounds exhibited moderate cytotoxic activities against three human cancer lines in vitro.