The subject of chemosystematics has provided insight to both botanical classification and drug development. However, degrees of subjectivity in botanical classifications and limited understanding of the evolution of chemical characters and their biosynthetic pathways has often hampered such studies. In this review an approach of taking phylogenetic classification into account in evaluating colchicine and related phenethylisoquinoline alkaloids from the family Colchicaceae will be applied. Following on the trends of utilizing evolutionary reasoning in inferring mechanisms in eg. drug resistance in cancer and infections, this will exemplify how thinking about evolution can influence selection of plant material in drug lead discovery, and how knowledge about phylogenetic relationships may be used to evaluate predicted biosynthetic pathways. Keywords: Alkaloids, biosynthetic pathways, colchicaceae, colchicine, evolution, phylogenetic prediction.

10.2174/1568026613666131216110417

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Citations (62)

Colchicine is still a chemical marker for the expanded Colchicaceae

Biochemical Systematics and Ecology (2010)

Annika Vinnersten Sonny Larsson

Colchicine

Subfamily

Synapomorphy

10.1016/j.bse.2010.12.004

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[Age-specific incidence of lung cancer in Sweden. Trends during the period 1959-1966].

PubMed (1971)

Sonny Larsson

Cancer Incidence

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Delineating small plant polypeptides : with a proposal on their classification and circumscription

Sonny Larsson Anders Backlund

The process of drug discovery from natural products starts with the selection of study object. In this project recent knowledge and methods are incorporated to investigate the process of such selection for pharmacognostic investigations. As the model and object of study mistletoes and their content of the small cytotoxic peptides thionins are chosen.The thionins are compared in silico to other proposed plant innate defense peptides. Utilizing analysis of amino acid sequences and secondary structures, the thionins are shown to be one of eight distinct groups of cystein-rich plant polypeptides analysed. Common features of thionins are exploited in an investigation of isolation methods, where a simple acidic extraction is equally efficient to isolate thionins as the laborious methods hitherto used. An effort to study the relationships of the order Santalales was done. To infer phylogenetic relationships from DNA sequences, we increased the taxon sampling for utilized genes and regions such as rbcL, atpB and ribosomal 18S and 26S rDNA sequences within the Santalales. Analysing these together with published sequences for other tricolpate taxa a position for Santalales as sister to caryophyllids and basal to asterids is implied. This indication is supported by chemical characters such as the presence of cyclopeptide alkaloids of a kind only known from Gentianales.To validate the chemosystematic implications from thionin distribution extracts of mistletoes collected in Panama, Taiwan and Madagascar, and the relative Osyris alba (Santalaceae) collected in Spain, were screened with the established fluorescence microculture cytotoxicity assay using the thionin-sensitive human lymphoma cell-line U937GTB. Bioassay guided isolation concludes that the cytotoxic compounds in Loranthaceae may however constitute another group of peptides.In conclusion this work shows that the incorporation of informatic techniques may aid prediction and decision making when planning pharmacognostic research.

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Clinical Outcome after Plaster Cast Fixation for 10 Days Versus 1 Month in Reduced Distal Radius Fractures: A Prospective Randomized Study

Scandinavian Journal of Surgery (2017)

Albert Christersson Sonny Larsson Boudewijn van der Sanden

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate clinical results after plaster cast fixation for 10 days versus 1 month of moderately displaced and reduced distal radius fractures. Material and Methods: In a prospective randomized study, 109 patients with moderately displaced and conservatively treated distal radius fractures (age ≥50 years) were randomized 10 days after reduction to either removal of the plaster cast and immediate mobilization (active group) or to continued plaster cast fixation for another 3 weeks (control group). Grip strength, pincer strength, range of motion, and pain were assessed at 1, 4, and 12 months after reduction. Clinical outcome was evaluated using three functional assessment scores at 12 months. Results: Treatment failed in 3/54 (6%) patients in the active group. One of these patients had the plaster cast reinstituted because of feelings of instability. The fractures in the other two patients displaced severely after mobilization and were therefore treated surgically. For the remaining 51 patients in the active group, the range of wrist motion was slightly better at 1 month compared with the controls, but there were no differences in grip or pincer strength or pain at the 1-month follow-up. There were no differences between the active and control group in any outcome at 4 or 12 months, including functional assessment scores at 12 months. Conclusion: Treatment with mobilization 10 days after reduction of moderately displaced distal radius fractures resulted in a few treatment failures compared with none among controls. The only functional benefit for the remaining patients was a small and transient increase in range of motion at the 1-month follow-up. Plaster cast removal 10 days after reduction in moderately displaced distal radius fractures is therefore not recommended.

10.1177/1457496917731184

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Citations (31)

Phenylethanoid glycosides in tepals of Magnolia salicifolia and their occurrence in flowers of Magnoliaceae

Phytochemistry (2015)

Elaine A. Porter Geoffrey C. Kite Nigel C. Veitch Ivey A. Geoghegan Sonny Larsson

Magnoliaceae

Phenylethanoid

Tepal

Clematis

Magnolia officinalis

10.1016/j.phytochem.2015.02.025