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Background: Dracocephalum heterophyllum was a traditional Tibetan medicine possesses various pharmacological effects involved in anti-inflammatory, antibacterial activities. However, its anti-hepatitis, antioxidant activity and bioactive compounds have not been reported, the objective of this research work was to investigate the pharmacological activity and bioactive compounds of D. heterophyllum extracts. Results: In the present study, the anti-hepatics and antioxidant activities of four D. heterophyllum extracts (i.e. petroleum ether extracts, ethyl acetate extracts, n-BuOH extracts, and water extracts) were conducted. The main chemical constituent of petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts were also isolated using chromatographic techniques and identified by NMR spectroscopic methods. The anti-hepatitis assay showed that the petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts of D. heterophyllum significantly prolonged the mean survival times and reduced the mortality of mouse hepatitis model induced by concanavalin A (ConA). The levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase in blood serum could be decreased obviously by ethyl acetate extracts compared with ConA group (P < 0.01). The histological analysis demonstrated that the ethyl acetate extracts could inhibit apoptosis and necrosis caused by ConA. In addition, the antioxidant activities of the four extracts of D. heterophyllum were measured by DPPH assay, ABTS assay, anti-lipidperoxidation assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power assay, ferrous metal ions chelating assay and determination of total phenolic contents. The results showed that the ethyl acetate extract had the highest antioxidant activities, followed by petroleum ether extract. Finally, nine mainly compounds were isolated from the Petroleum ether and ethyl acetate extracts, including four triterpenes: oleanolic acid ( 1), ursolic acid ( 2), pomolic acid ( 3), 2α- hydroxyl ursolic acid ( 4), three flavonoids: apigenin-7- O-rutinoside ( 5), luteolin ( 8), diosmetin ( 9) and two phenolic acids: rosmarinic acid ( 6), methyl rosmarinate ( 7). Conclusion: The Ethyl acetate extract of D. heterophyllum had the highest anti-hepatitis and antioxidants activities, followed by petroleum ether extract. The bioactive substances may be triterpenes, flavonoids and phenolic acids, the ethyl acetate extracts of D. heterophyllum may be possible candidates in developing anti-hepatitis medicine.

Background: Hypecoum leptocarpum Hook. f. et Thoms., which is used in traditional Tibetan medicine as an antipyretic, antitussive, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory agent, contains a variety of alkaloids that could be responsible for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of the total alkaloids from H. leptocarpum (AHL) in vitro and to elucidate the chemical structure of the anti-inflammatory components in AHL. Materials and Methods: Chemical characterization was performed using liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass and diode-array detector-high performance liquid chromatography. The anti-inflammatory effects of AHL were investigated by measuring the production of inflammatory cytokines using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and mRNA expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction in lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages. Results: Chemical analysis of AHL revealed the presence of seven alkaloids, protopine (13.3%), cryptopine (1.5%), leptopidinine, leptocarpine, corydamine, dihydroleptopine, and oxohydrastinine. AHL significantly suppressed the production of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 β), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells. The maximum levels of suppression of NO, IL-1 β, IL-6, and TNF-α were 86.8% ± 2.2%, 70.1% ± 1.5%, 100.1% ± 2.5%, and 50.8% ± 3.6%, respectively. IC50values of suppression of cytokine production by AHL were 7.47 ± 2.81 μg/mL (NO), 0.12 ± 0.28 μg/mL (IL-1 β), 0.56 ± 0.37 μg/mL (IL-6), and 18.95 ± 5.23 μg/mL (TNF-α). AHL was also shown to downregulate mRNA expression of inducible NO synthase, IL-1 β, IL-6, and TNF-α in vitro. Conclusion: The study provides convincing evidence that AHL has strong anti-inflammatory activity. The potent activity is likely a result of synergy between the different alkaloids. Abbreviations used: The total alkaloids from H. leptocarpum: AHL; Nitric oxide: NO; Interleukin-1 beta IL-1β; Interleukin-6: IL-6; Tumor necrosis factor-alpha: TNF-α; Prostaglandin E2: PGE2; Inducible nitric oxide synthase: iNOS; Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: NSAIDs; lipopolysaccharide: LPS; The total ion chromatograms: TIC; The liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time of flight: LC/Q-TOF; Nuclear factor-kappa B: NF-κB; Janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription: JAK-STAT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical investigation of ethanolic extract from Swertia mussotii Franch. has resulted in the isolation of 11 compounds which were identified as Orcinol-β-D-glucoside (1), Shamimin (2), Mangiferin (3), Decussatin (4), Bellidifolin (5), Desmethylbellidifolin (6), Protocatechuic acid (7), 1,7-Dihydroxy-3,8-dimethoxyxanthone (8), 1,8-Dihydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyxanthone (9), 1-Hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyxanthone (10), Telephioidin (11). The chemical structures of these compounds were identified by a combination of spectroscopic analysis and a comparison with those reported in literature. Among them, compounds 1, 2, 7 and 11 were isolated from the genus Swertia for the first time. Moreover, the chemotaxonomic significance of these compounds was summarised. The chemotaxonomic study suggests that there is a close chemotaxonomic relationship between S. mussotii and other species of Swertia, such as S. punicea, S. macrosperma, S. japonica, S. phragmitiphylla, S. chirayita, S. cordata and S. binchuanensis, with presence of compounds 3~6, 8~10. The xanthones and their glycosides may sever as important chemotaxonomic markers of Swertia genus.

A phytochemical investigation on Lagotis brevituba led to the isolation and characterisation of 11 phenolic compounds: p-hydroxy-benzoic acid 1, methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate 2, vanillic acid 3, protocatechuic acid 4, caffeic acid 5, glucose ester of (E)-ferulic acid 6, p-coumaric acid 7, vanillin 8, diosmetin-7-O-β-d-glucoside 9, chrysoeriol 10 and luteolin 11. Their structures were elucidated using spectroscopic methods and by comparison with data in the literature. Compounds 1-6 were first obtained from the genus Lagotis, and compounds 1-9 were isolated from L. brevituba for the first time. Compound 4 and 11 displayed remarkable antioxidant activities against DPPH radical (IC50 = 5.60 ± 0.09, 27.5 ± 0.06 mg/L, respectively), which were superior to positive control rutin. And compound 11 was also superior to rutin in ABTS assay (IC50 = 2.04 ± 0.13 mg/L).

Traditional Tibetan medicine is important for discovery of drug precursors. However, information about the chemical composition of traditional Tibetan medicine is very limited due to the lack of appropriate chromatographic purification methods. In the present work, A. kansuensis was taken as an example and a novel two-dimensional reversed-phase/hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography(HILIC) method based on on-line HPLC-DPPH bioactivity-guided assay was developed for the purification of analogue antioxidant compounds with high purity from the extract of A. kansuensis. Based on the separation results of many different chromatographic stationary phases, the first-dimensional (1D) preparation was carried on a RP-C18HCE prep column, and 2 antioxidant fractions were obtained from the 800mg crude sample with a recovery of 56.7%. A HILIC-XAmide prep column was selected for the second-dimensional (2D) preparation. Finally, a novel antioxidant β-carboline Alkaloids (Glusodichotomine AK) and 4 known compounds (Tricin, Homoeriodictyol, Luteolin, Glucodichotomine B) were purified from A. kansuensis. The purity of the compounds isolated from the crude extract was >98%, which indicated that the method built in this work was efficient to manufacture single analogue antioxidant compounds of high purity from the extract of A. kansuensis. Additionally, this method showed great potential in the preparation of analogue structure antioxidant compounds and can serve as a good example for the purification of analogue structure antioxidant carboline alkaloids and flavonoids from other plant materials.