Wunorlactones A-G, seven undescribed 7/8/5 and 7/8/3 carbon skeleton schinortriterpenoids from the stems and leaves of Schisandra chinensis, and their neuroprotective activities.

Schisandra chinensis is an important traditional Chinese medicine and its main bioactive components are lignans and schinortriterpenoids (SNTs). The aim of this study was to explore the biologically rich SNTs from the stem and leaves of S. chinensis (SCSL). Here, seven previously undescribed 7/8/5 and 7/8/3 carbon skeleton SNTs (1-7) were reported. Their structures were determined by NMR, UV, MS, ECD, and X-ray diffraction analyses, and the neuroprotective activities of these compounds on corticosterone-induced PC12 cell injury were evaluated. The results showed that 1, 5, and 7 (25 µM) had neuroprotective effects, and the cell viability was increased by 20.07%, 14.24%, and 15.14% (positive control: 30.64%), respectively. These findings increased the number of described SNTs in SCSL, and the neuroprotective activities of all compounds indicated their potential application in neurodegenerative diseases.

Rare benzonaphthoxanthenones from Chinese folk herbal medicine Polytrichum commune and their anti-neuroinflammatory activities in vitro.

Two new (1-2) as well as five known (3-7) compounds were isolated from Polytrichum commune, a folk herbal medicine in China, and three of them (2, 4, 5) belong to benzonaphthoxanthenones that are rarely found in nature. Their structures were elucidated by the approach to 1D and 2D NMR spectra. The absolute configuration of 2 was assigned by comparing its experimental and calculated ECD data. 1-5 were investigated for their anti-neuroinflammatory activity against LPS-induced BV-2 cells. 1 and 3 exhibited well protective effect at a concentration of 2.5 µmol/mL. Molecular docking studies were adopted to further investigate the possible mechanism, whose results suggested that 1 might exert anti-neuroinflammatory effect by inhibiting activity of p38α, JNK2 and TAK1 to reduce the liberation of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Systems Pharmacological Approach to Investigate the Mechanism of Ohwia caudata for Application to Alzheimer's Disease.

Ohwia caudata (OC)-a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)-has been reported to have large numbers of flavonoids, alkaloids, and triterpenoids. The previous studies on OC for treating Alzheimer's disease (AD) only focused on single targets and its mechanisms, while no report had shown about the synergistic mechanism of the constituents from OC related to their potential treatment on dementia in any database. This study aimed to predict the bioactive targets constituents and find potential compounds from OC with better oral bioavailability and blood-brain barrier permeability against AD, by using a system network level-based in silico approach. The results revealed that two new flavonoids, and another 26 compounds isolated from OC in our lab, were highly connected to AD-related signaling pathways and biological processes, which were confirmed by compound-target network, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, respectively. Predicted by the virtual screening and various network pharmacology methods, we found the multiple mechanisms of OC, which are effective for alleviating AD symptoms through multiple targets in a synergetic way.