Amber is an amorphous resinite created from fossilization and polymerization of various pine-based plant resins over millions of years.  Most scientific research on amber has focused on identifying extinct insect or plant species found in fossilized specimens, or tracking origins of individual resinite samples and elucidating related paleontological and geological historical events.  However, amber resin, extracts, and oils have been used medicinally in the Baltic nations (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) for centuries, with reported antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects, among others.  Very little research has been conducted towards identification of the active agents responsible for these effects; a small body of work has focused on succinic acid, a primary constituent of amber, as an antioxidant and as an intermediate in a number of biochemical pathways.  However, amber contains a wide variety of other components including terpenoids and other, highly diverse small molecules, only a small number of which have been characterized.  Here, we report the results of extraction, fractionation, TLC, NMR, LC-MS, and GC-MS experiments to isolate and identify such bioactives in Baltic amber samples obtained from Lithuania.  We present a series of previously unidentified small molecules isolated from our amber samples, as well as their potential molecular targets, and the results of enzyme assays pointing to key biochemical processes involved in inflammation, pain relief, as well as various types of pharmacologically relevant cell signaling pathways.

Identification of novel small-molecule bioactive compounds in Baltic amber

255th National Meeting (2018)

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