Decarine has high antibacterial activity against mycobacterial, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, and low cytotoxicity towards human macrophages.Decarine inhibits fMLP/CB-induced elastase release with IC(50) values < or = 5.53 microg/mL.

The best results were obtained for a benzophenanthridine alkaloid, Decarine (1), and an N-isobutylamide, N-isobutyl-(2E,4E)-2,4-tetradecadienamide (15), which showed high activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (MIC of 1.6 μg/ml), and a low macrophage cytotoxicity (IC50>60 μg/ml), indicating considerable selective activity. The benzophenanthridine alkaloid 6-acetonyldihydronitidine (6) revealed cytotoxicity (IC50 1.7 μg/ml), despite the determined MIC of 6.2-12.5 μg/ml. In infected macrophages, Decarine (1) was able to reduce bacterial survival by almost two log units at a concentration of 6.2 μg/ml 5 days post-drug exposure. Compound 15 exhibited an intermediate activity at drug concentrations ranging from 6.2 to 25 μg/ml[1]