Abstract:
Five new flavan-4-ol glycosides jixueqiosides A-E (
1−
5) and two new flavan glycosides jixueqiosides F and G (
6 and
7), along with twelve known flavan-4-ol glycosides (
8−
19), were isolated from the roots of
Pronephrium penangianum. Comprehensive spectral analyses, X-ray single-crystal diffraction, and theoretical electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations established structures and absolute configurations. A single crystal structure of flavan-4-ol glycoside (
14) was reported for the first time, while the characteristic ECD and NMR data for all isolated flavan-4-ol glycosides (
1−
5 ,
8−
19) were analyzed, establishing a set of empirical rules. Activity screening of these isolates showed that
8 and
9 could inhibit the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells with IC
50 values of 7.93 ± 2.85 μmol·L
−1 and 5.87 ± 1.58 μmol·L
−1 (MDA-MB-231), and 2.21 ± 1.38 μmol·L
−1 and 3.52 ± 1.55 μmol·L
−1 (MCF-7), respectively. Western blotting and flow cytometry analyses demonstrated that
8 and
9 dose-dependently induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells by up-regulating BAX, activating caspase-3 and down-regulating BCL-2. Additionally, compound
8 affected autophagy-related proteins, increasing the ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I and Beclin-1 levels to inhibit MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation. Moreover, anti-inflammatory studies indicated that
2,
3,
7,
13,
14, and
18 moderately inhibited tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and nitric oxide (NO) release.