**3. Biological activities of alkaloids**

The abundance and diversity as well as the valuable properties in terms of chemical compositions and biological activities of the *Zanthoxylum* genus have attracted the attention of many research scientists. The studies have shown that the extracts and alkaloids from *Zanthoxylum* species have many valuable biological

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

**Figure 3.** *The structures of alkaloids 52–78.*

activities: anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities. Many trials of biological properties of these species have been studied and evaluated promising applications in medicine. However, the most prominent compounds with cytotoxic activity in the genus *Zanthoxylum* are amides and alkaloids.

#### **3.1 Cytotoxic activities**

In folk medicine, many species of *Zanthoxylum* are used as drugs to treat cancer, such as: the people in Kakamega, Kenya use the leaves and roots of *Z. gilletii* to treat breast and skin cancers [48]; fruits of *Zanthoxylum* species are used in Indians and South Korea for chemopreventive effects [49, 50], while Cameron people use them to treat anemia disease sickle erythrocytes [51] and Japanese people use as one of the main components in the traditional medicine daikenchuto to treat gastrointestinal and chronic diseases [52]. The chloroform-soluble fraction of *Z. ailanthoides* showed cytotoxic activity against HL-60 and WEHI-3 cell lines with IC50 values of 73.06 and 42.22 μg/ml, respectively [53].

The methanol, hexane, and chloroform extracts from *Z. usambarense* were evaluated for cytotoxicity against two breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 and one brain tumor cell line, U251 using MTT assay [54]. The crude extract of *Z. setulosum* collected in Monteverde, Costa Rica showed potent cytotoxic activity (100% cells killed at 100 μg/ml) on three cancer cell lines, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231,
