A new biflavone from needles of Taxus canadensis / 中国中药杂志

The presentstudy is to investigate the chemical constituents of needles of Taxus canadensis. The constituent was isolated by various chromatographic methods, and the chemical structure was elucidated on the basis of spectral analysis. A new biflavone was isolated and identified as 3"'-hydroxy-4"', 7-dimethylamentoflavone.

H nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics reveals sex-specific metabolic changes of gastrodin intervention in rats

OBJECTIVES@#To explore (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomics on sex-specific metabolic changes of gastrodin intervention in rats.@*METHODS@#In this research, (1)H NMR-based metabolomics was used for the first time to investigate metabolic changes following chronic intervention with gastrodin in rats.@*RESULTS@#24 endogenous metabolites were identified. Body weight, daily diet and the total volume of urine in in each day of each rat were measured synchronously. Modifications in 12 metabolites were observed following gastrodin intervention, indicating gastrodin-induced alterations in carbohydrate and energy metabolism. Interestingly, these metabolic changes were not totally identical in female and male rats. Some metabolic changes arising from gastrodin intervention showed sexual dimorphism including LDL/VLDL and lactate which were on the decrease in the female but on the increase in the male, together with arginine/ornithine, creatine, and glycerol which were on the increase in the female but on the decrease in the male. While the decrease in pyruvate, succinate and glutamate was only shown in the male and the increase in valine, α-ketoglutarate, glycine and glucose was only in the female.@*CONCLUSIONS@#This research shows the sex-specific metabolic response to GAS intervention, weather GAS is a healthy dietary supplement for the male merits further investigation.

Triterpenes from the stem bark of Mitragyna diversifolia and their cytotoxic activity / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To study the chemical constituents and bioactivity of the stem bark of Mitragyna diversifolia.@*METHOD@#Compounds were isolated by various chromatographic methods. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic techniques (IR, UV, MS, and NMR), and they were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities by the MTT method.@*RESULTS@#Eight triterpenes were isolated and identified as 3α, 6β, 19α-trihydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (1), 3β, 6β, 19α-trihydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (2), 3-oxo-6β-19α-dihydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (3), 3β, 6β, 19α-trihydroxy-urs-12-en-24, 28-dioic acid 24-methyl ester (4), 3β, 6β, 19α, 24-tetrahydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (5), rotundic acid (6), 23-nor-24-exomethylene- 3β, 6β, 19α-trihydroxy-urs-12-en-28-oic acid (7), and pololic acid (8), respectively. All of the isolates were tested against two human tumor cell lines, MCF-7 (breast) and HT-29 (colon).@*CONCLUSION@#Compound 1 was a new triterpene. Compounds 5 - 7 exhibited potent inhibitory effects on the growth of MCF-7 and HT-29 cells, and the others showed no cytotoxicity.

Research progress of chemical composition of taxane in Taxus canadensis and medicine source crisis solution / 中国中药杂志

Taxus canadensis distributed mainly in North America, such as northern Minnesota, Newfoundland, south to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Its composition has been shown to be very different from other species, and in recent years, some new skeletons also have been found in Canada yew. Through analysis of the taxanes content on various Taxus plants containing taxanes, the results showed a higher content of taxol in T. canadensis. Based on the current research on T. canadensis (from the research results of the author in recent years, as well as from studies of scholars in the field), the paper outlined the research progress in recent years on the chemical constituents of taxane of T. canadensis and the spectral characteristics of various types of compounds. Besides, this paper analyzed the present research about solutions for the taxol drug source crisis.

Protective effects of shengmai san and its three fractions on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Shengmai San (SMS) and its ethyl acetate extract (SEa), n-butanol extract (SBu), and aqueous extract (SWe), and clarify the material base of SMS and the roles played by its fractions.@*METHODS@#A mouse model of transient forebrain ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) by means of common carotid artery occlusion (CCAO) was used to investigate the effects of SMS and its three fractions. Histopathological damage, blood-brain barrier disruption, and antioxidant and inflammation-related parameters, including malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), myeloperoxidase (MPO), nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured. The chemical constituents of each fraction were identified by LC-MS.@*RESULTS@#Eighteen lignans in SEa, and thirteen steroidal glycosides and ginsenosides in SBu were determined. SMS significantly inhibited I/R induced formation of histological injury and cerebral MPO activity. SMS showed the strongest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects against the I/R-caused injuries. SEa showed higher antioxidant activity than the other two fractions and SBu has a slightly stronger inhibition on the productions of NO and TNF-α.@*CONCLUSION@#SMS as a whole had the most effective protection against cerebral I/R-caused injuries compared with its fractions, which inferred that it contains different groups of compounds that contribute together to its protective effect.

A new phenylpropanoid glycoside from the fruits of Illicium simonsii / 中国天然药物

AIM@#To study the constituents and bioactivity of Illicium simonsii.@*METHODS@#The extracts of the fruits of Illicium simonsii were submitted to a combination of chromatographic materials, silica gel, ODS column chromatography and finally preparative HPLC to obtain eight compounds which were further evaluated for their cytotoxicity by MTT method.@*RESULTS@#A new phenylpropanoid glycolside, 2, 4-dihydroxy-allylbenzene-2-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), together with seven characteristic sesquiterpene lactones, oligandrumin B (2), oligandrumin D (3), anisatin (4), veranisatin D (5), pseudomajucin (6), 1α-hydroxy-3-deoxy-pseudoanisatin (7), 8α-hydroxy-10-deoxycyclomerrillianolide (8) were isolated.@*CONCLUSION@#Compound 1 is new. Compounds 1, 2, 3, 5-8 were isolated from this plant for the first time. None of the isolates showed inhibitory effects on the growth of non-small cell lung tumor cell line A549.

Two new phragmalin-type limonoid orthesters from Chukrasia tabularis var. velutina / 药学学报

As a part of our ongoing research program to isolate novel phragmalin limonoids from the stem bark of Chukrasia tabularis var. velutina, two new phragmalin limonoids orthesters, tabularin Q (1) and tabulalide O (4), along with two known compounds tabularin C (2) and tabularin H (3) were isolated. Their structures were elucidated by means of extensive 1D and 2D spectroscopic analyses which included HSQC, HMBC, and ROESY experiments and HR-ESI-MS.