The overall long term objectives and specific aims of this proposal concern the selection and procurement of plant materials having potential carcinogenesis inhibitory activity for studies leading to the discovery and development of cancer chemopreventive agents. At the same time, this project will provide literature information and information management services to the other collaborating projects in this Program Project. Selection of plant materials for study will be based on (1) an analysis of natural products literature with the aid of the NAPRALERT database or (2) endemic tropical plant species that have not been previously studied for this or other biological activities. Once the computerized literature selected candidates are made, plant materials will be procured by field collection from wild populations and/or by cultivation under defined conditions. Endemic plant materials will be field collected in Southeast Asia. Both cultivated and field collected plant materials will be dried, milled, and provided for the preparation of extracts, which will be tested in bioassay systems, and a decision will then be made to proceed with bioassay-directed fractionation for novel cancer chemopreventive agents from the most promising active leads. These materials will be procured and extracted in bulk (5-10 kg) as required for the isolation of the active principles. Active, but rare plant species, whose seeds and/or root stock are difficult or impossible to obtain for cultivation for bulk scale source material, will be subject to procedures of clonal propagation. All plant materials will be identified and authenticated. Information management capability will be provided to encompass the chemical and biological data that are generated by the other collaborating projects. This will be useful for tracking and analyzing the information generated and will also be of value in refining our strategies as each Project evolved and matures. This project will also conduct literature searches on all plants chosen for bioassay directed fractionation. All known chemical and pharmacological work on each of these plants will be assembled and provided to the Principal Investigator and the collaborating Project Leaders.
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