β-Boswellic Acid

Description

β-Boswellic acid is a pentacyclic triterpene originally isolated from Boswellia that has diverse bioactivities. It inhibits 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) with an IC₅₀ value of approximately 5 μM but is less potent than its derivative 3-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid . It inhibits cell proliferation in HL-60 cells with IC₅₀ values of 3.7, 7.1, and 6.3 μM for DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, respectively. In human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) transiently deprived of oxygen and glucose, β-boswellic acid increases nitric oxide and increases phosphorylation of enzyme nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). It also increases calcium mobilization in platelets at concentrations ≥3 μM and induces platelet aggregation (EC₅₀ = 8 μM).

Description

The aromatic resins frankincense and myrrh figure prominently in the Christmas story. These highly sought-after natural products, however, were known in North Africa and the Middle East for three millennia before the Christian era.
Frankincense, also known as olibanum, is derived from several species of trees in the?Boswellia?genus, notably?B. carterii?and?B. sacra. It is a complex, gummy substance whose major components (≈30%) are boswellic acids. Of these triterpene acids, the β-isomer is the most prominent.
In 1932, A. Winterstein and G. Stein isolated the α-, β-, and?γ-isomers of boswellic acid from olibanum “tears”. Over the next 30 years, several authors established their structures.
When the resin is steam-distilled to recover the frankincense essential oil, the acids remain behind. Nevertheless, the boswellic acids play a significant role in frankincense chemistry.
What about myrrh? Frankincense’s companion resin is isolated from small trees of the genus?Commiphora, which is also in the Burseraceae family. Myrrh contains three major components: gum resin (polysaccharides and proteins), alcohol-soluble resins, and volatile oils (steroids, sterols, and terpenes).

Chemical properties

BETA-BOSWELLIC ACID is Off-White Solid

The Uses of β-Boswellic Acid

The principal constitutents of frankincense (olibanum). A specific, nonredox inhibitor of 5-lipoxygenase used to treat inflammation.

What are the applications of Application

β-Boswellic Acid is an inhibitor of 5-LO and principal constituent of frankincense

Definition

ChEBI: Boswellic acid is a triterpenoid.

Anticancer Research

It is a natural pentacyclic triterpenediol and occurs in Boswellia serrata plants as anisomeric blend of 3α, 24-dihydroxyolean-12-ene and 3α, 24-dihydroxyurs-12-ene.It induces apoptosis in various cancer cells. The events involved in this process areexcessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO) formation, DNA ladderformation, and increased sub-G0 phase in cell cycle. This ultimately results incleavage of Bcl-2 and translocation of Bax to mitochondria, which lead to the lossof mitochondrial potential and release of cyt-c and other factors into cytosol. All these events are linked with reduced expression of survivin and inhibitor of caspase-activatedDNases (ICAD) that leads to the activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase(PARP). The triterpene upregulates the expression of cell death receptor-4(DR-4) and tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 (TNF-R1), where both lead to activationof caspase-8 (Huang et al. 2000; Desai et al. 2008; Lu et al. 2008).