Emergence of Cardiac Glycosides as Potential Drugs: Current and Future Scope for Cancer Therapeutics

Cardiac glycosides are natural sterols and constitute a group of secondary metabolites isolated from plants and animals. These cardiotonic agents are well recognized and accepted in the treatment of various cardiac diseases as they can increase the rate of cardiac contractions by acting on the cellular sodium potassium ATPase pump. However, a growing number of recent efforts were focused on exploring the antitumor and antiviral potential of these compounds. Several reports suggest their antitumor properties and hence, today cardiac glycosides (CG) represent the most diversified naturally derived compounds strongly recommended for the treatment of various cancers. Mutated or dysregulated transcription factors have also gained prominence as potential therapeutic targets that can be selectively targeted. Thus, we have explored the recent advances in CGs mediated cancer scope and have considered various signaling pathways, molecular aberration, transcription factors (TFs), and oncogenic genes to highlight potential therapeutic targets in cancer management.

Development of the quantitative test methods to determine the number of flavonoids in flowering shoots of semi-soft hawthorn

Flowers, fruits and shoots of various genus Hawthorn (Crataegus L.) species are used in domestic and foreign medical practice as cardiotonic agents. It is also possible to use hawthorn raw material for the prevention of cardiovascular system diseases among medical and pharmaceutical personnel. We consider semi-soft hawthorn Crataegus submollis Sarg. to be a prospective raw material species as its flowering shoots are chemically similar to the red-haw hawthorn flowers. We developed the quantitative test method to determine the number of flavonoids expressed as hyperoside in flowering shoots of semi-soft hawthorn using differential spectrophotometry with an analytical wavelength of 412 nm.

Pharmacognostic and pharmacological study of liquid extract of Crataegus Submollis Sarg. Flowers

The flowers and fruits of various species of the hawthorn genus (Crataegus L.) are widely used in domestic and foreign medical practice as cardiotonic agents. A perspective species for collecting of the raw material is Crataegus submollis Sarg. It was determined that 70% ethanol is an optimal extragent for the extraction of flavonoids from Crataegus submollis Sarg. flowers. The content of the total flavonoids in terms of hyperoside in the liquid extract of Crataegus submollis Sarg. flowers is 0,24 0,01%. It was established that liquid extract of Crataegus submollis Sarg. with using of 70% ethanol in case of a single intragastric administration in the dose of 100 l/kg shows significant antidepressant activity. Crataegus submollis Sarg. flowers are the perspective medicinal plant raw materials.