ABSTRACT
Objective: To study the chemical constituents of the roots and rhizomes of Veratrum grandiflorum and its antitumor activities. Methods: The compounds were isolated and purified by silica gel, C-18 reversed phase column chromatography, and their structures were identified by MS and NMR analyses. The cytotoxic activities of compounds 1-6 against HepG2 (human liver cancer cell line) were evaluated by MTT method. The effect of compound 3 on cell apoptosis of HepG2 was detected by flow cytometry. Results: Eight steroidal alkaloids were isolated and their structures were identified as (3S,15S)-3β-angeloyl-15α-acetylzygadenine (1), epirubijervine (2), veratramine (3), jervine (4), 3-angeloylzygadenine (5), veratrosine (6), veramitaline (7) and veralkamine (8). Conclusion: Compound 1 is a new alkaloid, compounds 7-8 are isolated from this plant for the first time. Compound 3 showed moderate cytotoxic activity against human tumor cell line HepG2 with IC50 value of (13.70 ± 0.99) μmol/L, and induced early apoptosis of HepG2 cells.