An alkaloid with diverse biological activities; ERG channel blocker (IC50 = 19.7 μM using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology in HEK293 cells expressing the human receptor); increases the amount and rate of calcium release from intracellular stores in healthy neonatal rat cardiac myocytes and those isolated from adult rats with heart failure in a concentration-dependent manner; increases expression of Ryr2 and Serca2a and decreases expression of Ncx; reduces mortality and improves cardiac function in a rat model of congestive heart failure; inhibits doxorubicin-induced myocardial apoptosis and mitochondrial cytochrome C release in mice when preadministered at a dose of 1mg/kg per day for four days; induces cellular autophagy and inhibits growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cells and induces mitochondrial apoptosis in MGC803 and MKN26 gastric cancer cells