Anti-inflammatory Chromones from Agarwood Produced Via Whole-Tree Agarwood-Inducing Technique of Aquilaria sinensis / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the chromones and anti-inflammation effect of agarwood produced via whole-tree agarwood-inducing technique (Agar-Wit) from A. sinensis. METHODS: The constituents were isolated and purified by chromatographic technique and semi-preparation HPLC. RAW264.7 cell model induced by lipopolysaccharide was used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of some compounds, and the secretion level of TNF-α was detected by ELISA. RESULTS: A new 2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone, (7'R)-2-[2-(7'-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl] chromone (1), along with nine analogues (2-10) were isolated from the agarwood produced by Agar-Wit, their structures were identified on the basis of physicochemical characteristics and spectroscopic data analysis as 6,7-dimethoxy-2-[2-(7'-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl] chromone (2), 6-hydroxy-2-[2-(7'-hydroxyphenyl)ethyl] chromone (3), 8-chloro-6-hydroxy-2-(2-phenylethyl)chromen-4-one (4), 8-chloro-6-hydroxy-2-[2-(4'-methoxyphenyl)ethyl] chromone (5), 8-chloro-6-hydroxy-2-[2-(3'-hydroxy-4'-methoxyphenyl)ethyl] chromone (6), 7-hydroxy-6-methoxy-2-(2-phenylethyl) chromone (7), 6-hydroxy-7-dimethoxy-2-[2-(4'-hydroxyethyl)] chromone (8), 6-hydroxy-2-[2-(3'-methoxy-4'-hydroxy)ethyl] chromone (9), 6-hydroxy-2-[2-(3'-hydroxy-4'-methoxyphenyl)ethyl] chromone (10). The results showed that compounds 1, 4, 6, 9 significantly inhibited the release of TNF-α inflammatory factors in RAW264.7 cells induced by LPS, with IC50 values of 13.30, 8.53, 7.72, and 10.87 μg•mL-1, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compound 1 is a new compound. The crystal structure of compound 4 is reported for the first time. Compounds 1, 4, 6, 9 show significant anti-inflammation activities.