Ionone Is More than a Violet's Fragrance: A Review.

Abstract

The term ionone is derived from "iona" (Greek for violet) which refers to the violet scent and "ketone" due to its structure. Ionones can either be chemically synthesized or endogenously produced via asymmetric cleavage of β-carotene by β-carotene oxygenase 2 (BCO2). We recently proposed a possible metabolic pathway for the conversion of α-and β-pinene into α-and β-ionone. The differences between BCO1 and BCO2 suggest a unique physiological role of BCO2; implying that β-ionone (one of BCO2 products) is involved in a prospective biological function. This review focuses on the effects of ionones and the postulated mechanisms or signaling cascades involved mediating these effects. β-Ionone, whether of an endogenous or exogenous origin possesses a range of pharmacological effects including anticancer, chemopreventive, cancer promoting, melanogenesis, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial actions. β-Ionone mediates these effects via activation of olfactory receptor (OR51E2) and regulation of the activity or expression of cell cycle regulatory proteins, pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins, HMG-CoA reductase and pro-inflammatory mediators. α-Ionone and β-ionone derivatives exhibit anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticancer effects, however the corresponding structure activity relationships are still inconclusive. Overall, data demonstrates that ionone is a promising scaffold for cancer, inflammation and infectious disease research and thus is more than simply a violet's fragrance.

• Authors: Lujain Aloum, Eman Alefishat, Abdu Adem, Georg Petroianu
• Journal: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) (Molecules) Vol. 25 Issue 24 (Dec 10 2020) ISSN: 1420-3049 [Electronic] Switzerland
• PMID: 33321809 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Anti-Infective Agents
• Anti-Inflammatory Agents
• Antineoplastic Agents
• Inflammation Mediators
• Norisoprenoids
• Receptors, Odorant

Topics

• Anti-Infective Agents (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Anti-Inflammatory Agents (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Antineoplastic Agents (chemistry, pharmacology)
• Biosynthetic Pathways
• Cell Cycle (drug effects)
• Cell Membrane (drug effects, metabolism)
• Chemical Phenomena
• Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic
• Inflammation Mediators (metabolism)
• Norisoprenoids (chemistry, metabolism, pharmacology)
• Odorants
• Protein Binding
• Receptors, Odorant (metabolism)
• Signal Transduction (drug effects)
• Structure-Activity Relationship