Α-Hederin Explained

α-Hederin (alpha-hederin) is a water-soluble pentacyclic triterpenoid saponin found in the seeds of Nigella sativa and leaves of Hedera helix.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Anticancer studies

α-Hederin and also its derivative, kalopanaxsaponin-I, have been studied for their anticancer activities.^{[5] [2]} α-Hederin has been shown to enhance the cytotoxicity of an established chemotherapeutic agent, 5-fluorouracil, in an animal model of colon carcinoma.^[5]

See also

• Hederagenin
• Thymoquinone

Notes and References

1. Book: Evans . William Charles . 2009 . Trease and Evans' Pharmacognosy . 16th . Saunders . 322 . 978-0-7020-2933-2.
2. Butt . Masood Sadiq . Sultan . Muhammad Tauseef . 2010 . Nigella sativa: Reduces the risk of various maladies . Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition . 50 . 7 . 654–665 . 10.1080/10408390902768797 . 20694927 . 22905497 . N. sativa seeds also contain proteins, alkaloids (nigellicines and nigelledine), and saponins (α-hederin) in substantial amounts ... Some of its components, especially α-Hederin, have shown some significant effects in mitigating the cancerous cell growth (Salem, 2005; Ramadan, 2007)..
3. Shafiq . Hammad . Ahmad . Asif . Masud . Tariq . Kaleem . Muhammad . 2014 . Cardio-protective and anti-cancer therapeutic potential of Nigella sativa . Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences . 17 . 12 . 967–979 . 10.22038/IJBMS.2015.3853 . free . 4387232 . 25859300 . 11429394 . free . N. sativa seed composition shows that it is the blessing of nature and it contains and many bioactive compounds like thymoquinone, α-hederin, alkaloids, flavonoids, antioxidants, fatty acids many other compounds that have positive effects on curing of different diseases..
4. Gholamnezhad . Zahra . Havakhah . Shahrzad . Boskabady . Mohammad Hossein . 2016 . Preclinical and clinical effects of Nigella sativa and its constituent, thymoquinone: A review . Journal of Ethnopharmacology . 190 . 372–386 . 10.1016/j.jep.2016.06.061 . 27364039 . 3109958 . The seeds of the plant also contain many non-oily and non-caloric components in trace amounts, including pyrazole alkaloids (nigellidine and nigellicine, Fig. 1d), isoquinoline alkaloids (nigellicimine and nigellicimine-N-oxide, Fig. 1e), alpha-hederin (a water-soluble pentacyclic triterpene, Fig. 1f), saponin (a potential anticancer agent), vitamins (riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, pyridoxine, folic acid, and vitamin E), and minerals (potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, and iron) (Nergiz and Ötleş, 1993)..
5. Randhawa . Mohammad Akram . Alghamdi . Mastour Safar . 2011. Anticancer activity of Nigella sativa (black seed)—A review . The American Journal of Chinese Medicine . 39 . 6 . 1075–1091 . 10.1142/S0192415X1100941X . 22083982 . 28376664 . free . A literature search has revealed that a lot more studies have been recently carried out related to the anticancer activities of N. sativa and some of its active compounds, such as thymoquinone and alpha-hederin ... Another important active compound that has been shown to possess anticancer effects is alpha-hederin, a pentacycline triterpene and a saponin, which is water soluble perhaps the major active component in the aqueous extract of N. sativa ... One of the derivatives of alpha-hederin, kalopanaxsaponin-I, was found to possess anticancer activity ... Alpha-hederin also, in sub-IC₅₀ cytotoxic concentrations, was shown to enhance the cytotoxicity of 5-fluorouracil in a human colon carcinoma model, HT-29 cells, 3.3-fold (Bun et al., 2008) ... Moreover, N. saliva seed, its oil, thymoquinone, alpha-hederin or their analogs could be used in suitable combinations with already established as chemotherapeutic agents..