Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase isozymes I and II with natural products extracted from plants, mushrooms and honey.

Different natural products and secondary metabolites from mushrooms, teas, honeys, mosses, plants and seaweeds were investigated for their in vitro inhibitory effects on human carbonic anhydrase (hCA, E.C.4.2.1.1) isoforms I and II. Inhibition data were correlated with the total phenol content in the extract and investigated with the pure compounds believed to be responsible for this activity. Methanolic extracts were prepared for 17 such pure chemicals present in the natural products and for 41 diverse natural products. The IC(50) values were in the range of 0.11-66.50 μg/mL against hCA I and of 0.09-54.54 μg/mL against hCA II, respectively. The total phenol content was in the range of 0.02-1318.96 (as milligrams of gallic acid equivalents) per gram of sample. These data offer new insights on possible novel classes of CA inhibitors based on natural products, possessing a range of chemical structures not present in the classical inhibitors with pharmacological applications, such as the sulfonamides and sulfamates.