Chiang Mai Journal of Science

Potential Pharmaceutical Uses of the Isolated Compounds from Silkworm Excreta

Paper Type	Contributed Paper
Title	Potential Pharmaceutical Uses of the Isolated Compounds from Silkworm Excreta
Author	Sornkanok Vimolmangkang, Chanida Somkhanngoen and Suchada Sukrong*
Email	suchada.su@chula.ac.th
Abstract:  Silkworm (Bombyx mori) excreta have long been used in the pharmaceutical and food industries as a natural colorant. In some countries, instant silkworm tea is available due to its traditional Eastern medicine health benefits. However, there are limited data on the identification of bioactive compounds in silkworm excreta. Here we have isolated and identified for the first time in silkworm excreta 1-tritriacontanol, a very long chain fatty alcohol, and lupeol, a phytosterol, in addition to b-sitosterol. The compounds were isolated from a crude acetone extract, purified by vacuum liquid column chromatography, and partitioned by hexane and ethyl acetate. The structure elucidation was confirmed by means of fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and electron ionization mass spectrometry (EIMS). The cytotoxic activity of the crude extract and 1-tritriacontanol were assayed against vero cells and different human cancer cell lines and they were found to be inactive, demonstrating their safety. These data support the use of silkworm excreta in traditional medicine and show the potential of silkworm excreta as a novel natural source of very long chain fatty alcohols.
Start & End Page	94 - 104
Received Date	2012-11-18
Revised Date
Accepted Date	2013-05-27
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Volume	Vol.41 No.1 (JANUARY 2014)
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