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Off-White Solid

The principal constitutents of frankincense (olibanum). A specific, nonredox inhibitor of 5-lipoxygenase used to treat inflammation.

β-Boswellic acid is a pentacyclic triterpene originally isolated from Boswellia that has diverse bioactivities. It inhibits 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) with an IC₅₀ value of approximately 5 μM but is less potent than its derivative 3-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid (Item No. 11672). It inhibits cell proliferation in HL-60 cells with IC₅₀ values of 3.7, 7.1, and 6.3 μM for DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis, respectively. In human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) transiently deprived of oxygen and glucose, β-boswellic acid increases nitric oxide and increases phosphorylation of enzyme nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). It also increases calcium mobilization in platelets at concentrations ≥3 μM and induces platelet aggregation (EC₅₀ = 8 μM).

ChEBI: Boswellic acid is a triterpenoid.

It is a natural pentacyclic triterpenediol and occurs in Boswellia serrata plants as anisomeric blend of 3α, 24-dihydroxyolean-12-ene and 3α, 24-dihydroxyurs-12-ene.It induces apoptosis in various cancer cells. The events involved in this process areexcessive reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO) formation, DNA ladderformation, and increased sub-G0 phase in cell cycle. This ultimately results incleavage of Bcl-2 and translocation of Bax to mitochondria, which lead to the lossof mitochondrial potential and release of cyt-c and other factors into cytosol. All these events are linked with reduced expression of survivin and inhibitor of caspase-activatedDNases (ICAD) that leads to the activation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase(PARP). The triterpene upregulates the expression of cell death receptor-4(DR-4) and tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 (TNF-R1), where both lead to activationof caspase-8 (Huang et al. 2000; Desai et al. 2008; Lu et al. 2008).

[1] H.P.T. AMMON. Mechanism of antiinflammatory actions of curcumine and boswellic acids[J]. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 1993, 38 2: Pages 105-112. DOI: 10.1016/0378-8741(93)90005-p
[2] H SAFAYHI. Boswellic acids: novel, specific, nonredox inhibitors of 5-lipoxygenase.[J]. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 1992, 261 3: 1143-1146.
[3] Y SHAO. Inhibitory activity of boswellic acids from Boswellia serrata against human leukemia HL-60 cells in culture.[J]. Planta medica, 1998, 64 4: 328-331. DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-957444
[4] MINGMING WANG. Pretreatment with β-Boswellic Acid Improves Blood Stasis Induced Endothelial Dysfunction: Role of eNOS Activation.[J]. Scientific Reports, 2015: 15357. DOI: 10.1038/srep15357
[5] ULF SIEMONEIT. Defined Structure-Activity Relationships of Boswellic Acids Determine Modulation of Ca2+ Mobilization and Aggregation of Human Platelets by Boswellia serrata Extracts.[J]. Planta medica, 2017, 83 12-13: 1020-1027. DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-107884