ABSTRACT
Abstract The fruits of Xanthium strumarium L., Asteraceae, have been used for various diseases in Chinese folk medicine, including allergic rhinitis, tympanitis, arthritis, ozena etc. The current study was aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of caffeoylquinic acids from fruits of X. strumarium on allergic rhinitis in animals. The toxicity test indicated that the caffeoylquinic acids have no obvious toxicity. By using HPLC assays combined with reference standards, ten caffeoylquinic acids were identified as the predominant constituents. Anti-allergic activities of the caffeoylquinic acids were evaluated using passive cutaneous anaphylaxis test and Schultz-Dale test; dimethylbenzene induced ear edema test was performed to evaluate its anti-inflammatory effect. Then, the allergic rhinitis model in rats was established to evaluate the therapeutic effects of the caffeoylquinic acids against allergic rhinitis with the following indexes: allergic rhinitis symptom scores, serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, histopathological examination, and histamine release. Our study revealed that the caffeoylquinic acids showed obvious anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties, and its treatments were beneficial for ameliorating the nasal symptoms, decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines, and inhibiting the releases of histamine. Collectively, the caffeoylquinic acids might be utilized as effective and safe disease therapeutic agents for allergic rhinitis.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To conduct a numerical taxonomy research on the origin plants of Fructus Xanthii and to identify this crude drug, so as to provide evidence for the classification, identification and germplasm optimization of Xanthium genus. Methods: Fruits of Xanthium plants from 25 populations in China were collected and cultivated in the same location. Their growing conditions and morphological characteristics were observed after seedling emergence. And 20 taxonomic characters of the plants such as growth cycle, height of the whole plant, length of leafstalk, length and density of involucre, thorn, length of beak and color of ripe fruits, etc. were selected for detailed observation, recording and analysis. Original data matrix X= {Xii} 25×20 was established by means of 25 operational taxonomic units(OTU) and related 20 groups of characteristic data. The established matrix was analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis on SPSS 13.0 software. Results and Conclusion: The origin plants of Fructus Xanthii from 25 populations of China fell into four groups, largely consistent with the morphological identification results of this study. The first group was identified as Xanthium sibiricum, the second as X. mongolicum, the: third as X. sibiricum var. subinerme, and the fourth was temporarily named as Shenzhen-type cocklebur Xanthium sp.. The Shenzhen-type cocklebur was special in some taxonomic characters and was possibly a cultivated variety of Xanthium genus. The origin plants of Fructus Xanthii in China can be systematized into 3 species and 1 type, which has been added to the existing taxonomic criteria. The cluster analysis method in this study can be applied for discrimination of Xanthium plants and crude drugs.
ABSTRACT
Objective To establish a method for extracting compounds in Fructus Xanthii by accelerated solvent extraction(ASE),and to simultaneously determine the compounds by GC-MS.Methods The extraction was performed by ASE in which the conditions were optimized by orthogonal test,then the compounds in different extracts with different polarity were determined by GC-MS.Results The optimized conditions of ASE for compounds in Xanthium sibiricum fruits were as follows: petroleum ether,ethyl acetate and methanol as extracting solvent in turn in 33 mL extracting tube and the volume of solvent being 65 mL;6 g sample,9 MPa of extracting pressure,90 ℃of extracting temperature,5 min of extracting time,two cycles and one time for each extraction.The GC-MS conditions were as follows: 1 ?L extract was analysed by GC-MS(Shimadzu Model QP-2010) instrument fitted with a flame ionisation detector,separation was achieved on a DB-5ms,DB-17ms and DB-WAX column(J&W Scientific,30 m,0.25 ?m id film thickness,1.4 ?m,USA) respectively,the column temperature was maintained at 60 ℃for 3 min and increased to 250 ℃,the scanning range was from m/z 40 to m/z 700(scanning interval: 0.5 s),and the compounds were identified by searching NIST and Wiley registry of mass spectral data.Conclusion There are 61 compounds found in the petroleum ether extract and in which 48 are identified,22 in the ethyl acetate extract and 18 identified,as well as 34 in the methanol extract and 29 identified with the methods of optimized ASE combined with GC-MS.