*Bioactive Compounds in Nutraceutical and Functional Food for Good Human Health*


#### **Table 2.**

*Aporphines and benzylisoquinolines, and furoquinolines from* Zanthoxylum *species.*

*Alkaloids and Their Pharmacology Effects from* Zanthoxylum *Genus DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.91685*

**Figure 4.** *The structures of alkaloids 79–97.*

and MDA-MB-468 [55]. The methanol extract of *Z. avicennae* inhibited the highly metastatic HA22T liver cancer cell migration and invasion effects through PP2A activation [56]. Most recently, the methanol extract of *Z. alatum* showed the apoptotic activity on Ehrlich ascites tumor in Swiss albino mice [57].

A screening study of cytotoxic activity of the extracts from 11 species used as salad in Korea showed that the methanol extract of *Z. schinifolium* had the strongest cytotoxic against Calu-6 cell line with the IC50 values < 25.0 μg/ml, meanwhile the methanol extract of *Z. piperitum* exhibited antioxidant effects through ability to arrest radical DPPH. Through the results of this study, the authors suggested that these salad vegetables can be used as functional foods to support cancer treatment [58]. The linear fatty acid amides of the sandshool class are the major ingredient found in seeds of *Z. piperitum* exhibited cytotoxicity in the A-549 cell line [59]. Glycoprotein from the seeds of *Z. piperitum* prevented damage to liver tissue caused by *N-*nitrosodiethylamine in the experimental mouse model [49].

Thirteen benzophenanthridines were isolated from *Z. nitidum* by Wang et al. [23]. The research indicated that 6-methoxy-7-hydroxydihydrochelerythrine exhibited the moderate cytotoxic activity against A549, Hela, SMMC-7721 and EJ, with the IC50 values of 27.50, 37.50, 16.95 and 60.42 μM, respectively. 6- Methoxydihydrochelerythrin and 8-(10-hydroxyethyl)-7,8-dihydrochelerythrine also showed strong cytotoxicity when tested against the four human cancer cell lines (A549, Hela, SMMC-7721 and EJ). These results suggested that benzophenanthridines may become a valid alternative of potential basis for new antiproliferative agents [23]. Methyl 7-(β-D-mannopyranosyloxy)-1*H*-indole-2-carboxylate (**126**), methyl 7-[(3-*O*-acetyl-β-D-mannopyranosyl)oxy]-1*H*-indole-2-carboxylate (**127**), and 2-methyl-1*H*-indol-7-yl β-D-mannopyranoside (**128**) were isolated from the ethanol extract of *Z. nitidum* roots*.* Biological evaluation revealed that these alkaloids possess significant cytotoxicities against all the tested tumor cell lines with the IC50 values of less than 30 μM [46]. Liriodenine (**60**) was the active compound against the MCF-7, NCI-H460, and SF-268 cell lines with IC50 values of 2.19, 2.38, and 3.19 μg/ml, respectively [22]. In addition, normelicopidine (**101**)
