Planta Med 1997; 63(3): 251-254
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-957665
Papers
Natural Product Chemistry
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Minor Components with Smooth Muscle Relaxing Properties from Scented Myrrh (Commiphora guidotti)

Maria Andersson1 , Ola Bergendorff1 , Rudong Shan1 , Peter Zygmunt2 , Olov Sterner1
  • 1Division of Organic Chemistry 2, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
  • 2Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University Hospital, S-221 85 Lund, Sweden
Further Information

Publication History

1996

1996

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

Abstract

All sesquiterpenes present in a sample of scented myrrh were isolated and characterised. Seven compounds, with cadinane, guaiane, oplopane, and eudesmane skeletons, were obtained, of which two are new and two are reported from a natural source for the first time. The major component, T-cadinol, has previously been shown to possess smooth muscle-relaxing properties, and the major purpose of the investigation was to compare the effects of the minor and more polar sesquiterpenes with that of T-cadinol in the rat aorta. Like T-cadinol, the minor sesquiterpenes are more efficient in reducing K+-induced contractions than those induced by the α-adrenoceptor agonist phenylephrine, however, they were all less potent than T-cadinol.

    >