Bioactive alkaloids from endophytic Aspergillus fumigatus.

Two new alkaloids, named 9-deacetylfumigaclavine C (1) and 9-deacetoxyfumigaclavine C (2), along with 12 known compounds (3-14), were isolated from the culture of Aspergillus fumigatus. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses. Compound 2 showed selectively potent cytotoxicity against human leukemia cells (K562) with an IC(50) value of 3.1 microM, which was comparable to that of doxorubicin hydrochloride, a presently prescribed drug for the treatment of leukemia. Furthermore, 14-norpseurotin (4) significantly induced neurite outgrowth of rat pheochromocytoma cells (PC12) at a 10.0 microM concentration.