Tomatidine (hydrochloride)

Tomatidine is a steroidal alkaloid that has been found in the skins and leaves of tomatoes.¹ It suppresses NF-κB signaling in LPS-stimulated macrophages, blocking induced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and COX-2. Tomatidine inhibits acid sphingomyelinase activity by 84.2% when used at a concentration of 10 mM.² It also has antibacterial properties, preferentially blocking the replication of S. aureus variants that are pathogenic in cystic fibrosis over normal strains (MICs = 0.12 and >16 µg/ml, respectively).³ It prevents skeletal muscle atrophy associated with fasting or spinal cord injury in mice.⁴ Tomatidine has also been used as a negative control for cyclopamine (Item No. 11321) in studies involving signaling mediated by the hedgehog pathway.⁵

WARNING This product is not for human or veterinary use.

1. Chiu, F.L., and Lin, J.K. Tomatidine inhibits iNOS and COX-2 through suppression of NF-κB and JNK pathways in LPS-stimulated mouse macrophages. FEBS Lett. 582(16), 2407-2412 (2008).

2. Kornhuber, J., Muehlbacher, M., Trapp, S., et al. Identification of novel functional inhibitors of acid sphingomyelinase. PLoS One 6(8), e23852 (2011).

3. Mitchell, G., Gattuso, M., Grondin, G., et al. Tomatidine inhibits replication of Staphylococcus aureus small-colony variants in cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 55(5), 1937-1945 (2011).

4. Dyle, M.C., Ebert, S.M., Cook, D.P., et al. Systems-based discovery of tomatidine as a natural small molecule inhibitor of skeletal muscle atrophy. The Journal of Biological Chemisty 289(21), 14913-14924 (2014).

5. Zhao, C., Chen, A., Jamieson, C.H., et al. Hedgehog signalling is essential for maintenance of cancer stem cells in myeloid leukaemia. Nature 458(7239), 776-779 (2009).