Triterpenoid Saponins from Tu Jia Ethnomedicine Bai San Qi and Their Cytotoxicity on Hep G2 and BGC-823 Cell Lines

Objective Tu Jia ethnomedicine is a unique medical system inherited and adhibited by Tu Jia minority living in central-south China. Panax japonicus C. A. Mey.(Bai San Qi,白三七) is recognized as an effective and rare medicinal plant to treat weakness, fatigue and rheumatism in Tu Jia ethnomedicine. This paper is to discover more substance evidence for the application of Tu Jia ethnomedicine. Methods Column chromatography and preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was applied for isolation and purification;1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 1H-1H COSY, HSQC and HMBC NMR spectra were applied for structure identification;Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolim (MTT) assays were applied for cytotoxicity evaluation. Results Totally 12 known compounds were isolated by column chromatography and preparative HPLC from rhizomes of Panax japonicus C. A. Mey.(Bai San Qi,白三七). Structures of these compounds were identified by their NMR spectra. All the 12 compounds were triterpenoid saponins. Five of them were oleanolic acid type, and the remaining 7 were dammarane type. Eleven compounds were assayed for their cytotoxic activity against Hep G2 human liver cancer cell lines and BGC-823 human gastric cancer cell lines. Three of the 11 showed relatively dominant cytotoxicity against these cell lines. Conclusions A total of 12 known compounds have been identified from Panax japonicus C. A. Mey.(Bai San Qi,白三七);NMR spectra of compounds with similar skeletons showed regular characteristics;3 compounds showed relatively dominant cytotoxicity against Hep G2 and BGC-823 cancer cell lines, and the result can be valued as weak while setting the taxol as a positive control.

A Review of Triterpenoids and Their Pharmacological Activities from Genus Kadsura

Plants in genus Kadsura,belong to the Schisandraceae family including genus Schisandra and genus Kadsura,revealed folk efficacy and medicinal application in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and gastroenteric disorders for a long history.Previous study indicated that plants from genus Kadsura mainly contain lignans,triterpenoids and essential oils,and showed the active compounds were lignans and triterpenoids.Among all compounds from Schisandraceae family,the triterpenoids between the genus Schisandra and genus Kadsura had obvious differences.In this paper,we reviewed214triterpenoids and their pharmacological activities reported from genus Kadsura in the past30years(from1987to2017),aiming to provide reference for further study.