Corydecusines A-H, new phthalideisoquinoline hemicetal alkaloids from the bulbs of Corydalis decumbens inhibit Tau pathology by activating autophagy mediated by AMPK-ULK1 pathway.

Twelve phthalideisoquinoline hemiacetal alkaloids including eight new ones (1-8) and one natural alkaloid characterized by an aziridine moiety with unassigned NMR data (9), were isolated and identified from the bulbs of Corydalis decumbens. Their structures were established by comprehensive analyses of HRESIMS, NMR, X-ray crystallography, and ECD analyses. The unambiguously established structures of the phthalideisoquinoline hemiacetal alkaloids indicated that the absolute configurations of C-1, C-9, and C-7' were confusable only relied on coupling constants. A summary of their ECD spectra was concluded and provided an insight for C-1, C-9, and C-7' absolute configuration assignment. These new compounds were evaluated to induce autophagy flux through flow cytometry analysis. Moreover, compounds 2 and 6 could significantly induce autophagy and inhibit Tau pathology by AMPK-ULK1 pathway activation, which provided an avenue for anti-AD lead compounds discovery.