RESUMO
Gynura procumbens is a traditional herb and food extensively cultivated in China and Southeast Asian countries. In this work, the crude extract (CE) of G. procumbens was purified with macroporous resin to obtain the refined fraction, and its anti-inflammatory activity was compared with that of CE. Moreover, the detailed mechanisms of anti-inflammatory activity were also investigated for the first time. The results indicated that CE was more effective in anti-inflammatory activity and it could reduce the secretion of NO, TNF-α, and PGE2 via decreasing the iNOS, TNF-α, and COX-2 genes transcription and related proteins translation, which were associated with the inhibition of AP-1 and NF-κB nuclear translocation and downregulation of PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling pathways. In conclusion, the extract of G. procumbens has a promising potential in inflammation-related disorders alleviation, and these findings could provide the basis for the comprehensive utilization of G. procumbens and the new functional food development.
RESUMO
High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) combined with macroporous resin (MR) column was successfully applied to the isolation and purification of four flavonoid glycosides from the medicinal herb Lotus plumule (LP). A polar two-phase solvent system composed of ethyl acetate-n-butanol-water (1:2:3, v/v/v) was selected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and run on a preparative scale where the lower aqueous phase was used as the mobile phase with a head-to-tail elution mode. Quercetin-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (15 mg), isorhamnetin-3-O-ß-D-glucopyranoside (13 mg), apigenin 6-C-ß-D-glucopyranosyl-8-C-α-L-arabinopyranoside (18 mg) and apigenin 6,8-di-C-ß-D-glucopyranoside (48 mg) were obtained in a one-step HSCCC separation from 240 mg of the sample. The purity of each compound was over 95% as determined by HPLC. Chemical structures of the isolated compounds were identified by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) methods. Moreover, the four compounds were isolated from LP for the first time.