GA – 70th Annual Meeting 2022, Thessaloniki, Greece, Thessaloniki, Greece, 28 - 31 August 2022, vol.8815, pp.1494
Pistacia lentiscus L., called mastic tree, grows extensively in coastal areas of the Mediterranean. It has been traditionally exploited as a dietary or cosmetic agent and to treat gastrointestinal disorders. While the chemical constituents of Chios mastic gum comprise natural polymers, essential oils, and triterpenic compounds, further studies have suggested that triterpenes are of great importance in biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, and chemopreventive [1]. Since the abiotic factors affect the secondary metabolite profile [2], our group has decided to undertake a phytochemical study on Pistacia lentiscus var. chia growing in Karaburun Peninsula, İzmir-Turkey.
Isolation and purification studies were performed using chromatographic methods; subsequently, structural elucidation was done by spectroscopic methods (1D NMR, 2D NMR, MS and X-RAY). The detailed inspections of spectra helped us establish structures of twelve molecules possessing triterpenic skeletons ([Fig. 1]), and two of them turned out to be undescribed compounds. Since oxidative stress leads to the progression of neurodegenerative disorders [3] and antioxidant activities of some Pistacia species are documented [4], the neuroprotective effect of the isolates was examined against H2O2-induced oxidative stress on SH-SY5Y cells. As differentiation agents were reported to affect potency of compounds [5], both differentiated and undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells was used in this study. Two compounds (oleanolic acid and 17-β-hydroxy-28-norolean-12-ene-3-one) showed neuroprotective effects, while others demonstrated little or no effect. Interestingly, 17-β-hydroxy-28-norolean-12-ene-3-one exhibited protective activity in both differentiated and undifferentiated SH-SY5Y cells whereas oleanolic acid had effects only on undifferentiated cells.