Deguelin is a derivative of rotenone

Rotenone

Rotenone is an odorless chemical that is used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the roots and stems of several plants such as the jicama vine plant...

. Both are compounds classified as rotenoid

Rotenoid

Rotenoids are naturally occurring substances containing a cis-fused tetrahydrochromeno[3,4-b]chromene nucleus. Rotenoids are related to the isoflavones....

s of the flavonoid family and are naturally occurring insecticides. They can be produced by extraction from several plant species belonging to three genera of the Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

 or Legume family, Lonchocarpus

Lonchocarpus

Lonchocarpus is a plant genus in the legume family . The species are called lancepods due to their fruit resembling an ornate lance tip or a few beads on a string....

, Derris

Derris

Derris is a climbing leguminous plant of Southeast Asia and the southwest Pacific islands, including New Guinea. Its roots contain rotenone, a strong insecticide and fish poison....

, or Tephrosia

Tephrosia

Tephrosia is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word τεφρος , meaning "ash-colored," referring to the greyish tint given to the leaves by their dense trichomes.-Uses:...

.

Cubé resin, the root extract from Cubé (Lonchocarpus utilis

Lonchocarpus utilis

Lonchocarpus utilis is part of the Fabaceae family. It is native to the tropical forests of Peru, as well as of Brazil and Guyana, growing from 100–1,800 meters above sea level....

) and from Barbasco (Lonchocarpus urucu

Lonchocarpus urucu

Lonchocarpus urucu is part of the Fabaceae family. It is native to the tropical forests of Peru, as well as of Brazil and Guyana, growing from 100 to 1,800 meters above sea level....

), is used as a commercial insecticide

Insecticide

An insecticide is a pesticide used against insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against the eggs and larvae of insects respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind...

 and piscicide

Piscicide

A piscicide is a chemical substance which is poisonous to fish. The primary use for piscicides is to eliminate a dominant species of fish in a body of water, as the first step in attempting to populate the body of water with a different fish...

 (fish poison). The major active ingredients are rotenone

Rotenone

Rotenone is an odorless chemical that is used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the roots and stems of several plants such as the jicama vine plant...

 and deguelin. Although "organic" (produced by nature) cubé resin is no longer considered environmentally safe.

Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics

Pharmacokinetics, sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to the determination of the fate of substances administered externally to a living organism...

• Mean residence time (MRT) = 6.98 h
• Terminal half-life (t1/2(gamma)) = 9.26 h
• Area under the curve (AUC) = 57.3 ng h/ml
• Total clearance (Cl) = 4.37 l/h per kg
• Apparent volume of distribution (V) = 3.421 l/kg
• Volume of distribution at steady-state (Vss) = 30.46 l/kg
• Tissue distributions after i.v. (intravenous) administration: heart > fat > mammary gland > colon > liver > kidney > brain > lung.
• Tissue distributions after i.g. (intragastric) administration: perirenal fat > heart > mammary gland > colon > kidney > liver > lung > brain > skin.
• Elimination: Within 5 days of i.g. administration, about 58.1% of the [3H]deguelin was eliminated via the feces and 14.4% via the urine. Approximately 1.7% of unchanged deguelin was found in the feces, and 0.4% in the urine.

Deguelin and Anti-cancer activity

Deguelin displays anti-cancer activity by inhibiting the growth of pre-cancerous and cancerous cells - particularly for lung cancer. So far the compound has shown no toxic effects on normal cells. However, high doses of deguelin are suspected of having negative effects on the heart, lungs and nerves.
The molecular mechanisms include the induction of apoptosis, mediatated through AKT/PKB signaling pathways in malignant and premaligant human bronchial epithelia (HBE) cells, with only minimal effects on normal HBE cells. Deguelin inhibits AKT by both Phosphoinositol-3-phosphate kinase (PI3K)-dependent and PI3K-independent pathways.

Deguelin and Parkinson's disease

Research has shown a correlation between intravenous deguelin and Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...

 in rat

Rat

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...

s. The study does not suggest that deguelin exposure is responsible for Parkinson's disease in humans, but is consistent with the belief that chronic exposure to environmental toxins can increase the likelihood of the disease.