forsythiaside and phillygenin

Forsythia suspensa extract has been proved as a potential antioxidant in the recent years. The present study was undertaken to obtain the optimal antioxidant fraction in vitro and examine its antioxidative potential against diquat-induced oxidative stress in male Sprague Dawley rats in vivo. In vitro, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging experiment indicated that the CH2Cl2 fraction of F. suspensa (FSC) exerted the strongest scavenging activities; forsythoside A, forythialan A and phillygenin from it might be the major antioxidant constituents. In vivo, pretreatment of rats with different doses of FSC (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg bw) and vitamin C (100 mg/kg bw, positive control) for 15 days significantly lowered the tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in plasma compared to the negative control group. Also, FSC significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and the levels of glutathione (GSH) in plasma, liver and kidney whereas it decreased the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma and kidney. Moreover, the protective effect of FSC (100 mg/kg bw) was better than vitamin C. These results revealed that FSC exerted a protective effect against diquat-induced oxidative stress and is worthy of becoming a potential dietary antioxidant.

Topics: Animals; Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Biphenyl Compounds; Cytokines; Diquat; Forsythia; Free Radicals; Fruit; Glycosides; Herbicides; Indicators and Reagents; Kidney; Lignans; Liver; Male; Oxidative Stress; Oxidoreductases; Picrates; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

A simple and reproducible HPLC-photodiode array detector method has been described for evaluating and controlling quality of Forsythia suspensa extract (FSE). First, by analysis of chromatographic fingerprints, the similarities of chromatograms of FSE samples from the same pharmaceutical company exceeded 0.999, 0.997 and 0.960, respectively, although they were much lower from different pharmaceutical companies. Second, by further comparing many batches of extract chromatograph charts with the corresponding reference herb materials, the "common peaks" 3, 5, 7 and 10 were defined as "marker peaks", which were identified as (+)-pinoresinol-beta-D-glucoside, forsythiaside, phillyrin and phillygenin, respectively. Third, four "marker peaks" were simultaneously determined based on fingerprint chromatogram for further controlling the quality of FSE quantitatively. Namely, the newly developed method was successfully applied to analyze 38 batches of FSE samples supplied by three pharmaceutical factories, which showed acceptable linearity, intra-day precision (RSD<2.76%), inter-day precision (RSD<3.43%) and the average recovery rates in the range of (95.38+/-2.96)% to (101.60+/-3.08)%. At last, hierarchical clustering analysis and Bayes discriminant analysis statistical methods were used to classify and differentiate the 38 FSE samples to provide the basis for guiding reasonable use of FSE and controlling its quality better.

Topics: Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Forsythia; Glucosides; Glycosides; Lignans; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Quality Control