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Zusammenfassung
In the last years, only a limited no. of structurally new plant secondary metabolites have entered the scene to attract high medical interest. In contrast, the development of new techniques in the fields of biochem., cell biol. and mol. biol., e.g. new assay techniques, which are also applicable in the field of natural products chem., allowed the finding of several new insights into the mol. mode ...
Zusammenfassung
In the last years, only a limited no. of structurally new plant secondary metabolites have entered the scene to attract high medical interest. In contrast, the development of new techniques in the fields of biochem., cell biol. and mol. biol., e.g. new assay techniques, which are also applicable in the field of natural products chem., allowed the finding of several new insights into the mol. mode of action and the pharmacol. characterization of known plant secondary metabolites. Accordingly, the pharmacol. or clin. characterization of several known plant-derived compds. like the taxanes, artemisinin derivs. or boswellic acids was significantly broadened. Furthermore, new and important medical applications or pharmacol. mechanisms of known compds. were found like the antiviral activity of betulinic acid derivs. or the inhibition of tubulin polymn. by combretastatin A-4. Recently, a strong interest has evolved in natural products exhibiting chemopreventive activity. Consequently, the role of several plant polyphenols, like curcumin and xanthohumol, as protective and pharmacol. active, dietary constituents has become an increasingly important area of research. Besides the investigation of single compds., there is still a growing interest in the application of standardized exts., complex phytochem. mixts. with a well-defined content of the bioactive constituents. Therefore, new insights concerning the application of exts. from Ginkgo biloba and Hypericum perforatum are also discussed.