Chelerythrine (CT)

Chelerythrine is a benzophenanthridine alkaloid present in the plant Chelidonium majus (greater celandine). It is a potent, selective, and cell-permeable protein kinase C inhibitor in vitro. It is also found in the plants Zanthoxylum clava-herculis and Zanthoxylum rhoifolium, exhibiting antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and other human pathogens.
The binding of chelerythrine (CHE) iminium to calf-thymus (CT) DNA is characterized by hypochromism and bathochromism in the absorption band, enhancement of fluorescence intensity, increase in fluorescence polarization, and the perturbation of the CD spectra of DNA. These changes are characteristic of intercalation. Scatchard plots constructed from fluorescence titration data gave a binding constant of 5.77×105 and a binding site size of 3,4 base pairs at 25℃.