harpagoside and aucubin

The antiinflammatory activities of aqueous extracts prepared from the aerial parts of ten Hungarian Stachys species were investigated in vivo in the carrageenan-induced paw oedema test after intraperitoneal and oral administration to rats. Some of the extracts were found to display significant antiphlogistic effects when administered intraperitoneally and orally; in particular, the extracts of S. alpina, S. germanica, S. officinalis and S. recta demonstrated high activity following intraperitoneal administration. At the same dose of 5.0 mg/kg, these extracts exhibited similar or greater potency than that of the positive control diclofenac-Na. The main iridoids present in the investigated extracts, ajugoside, aucubin, acetylharpagide, harpagide and harpagoside, were also assayed in the same test, and high dose-dependent antiphlogistic effects were recorded for aucubin and harpagoside. These results led to the conclusion that most probably iridoids are responsible for the antiinflammatory effect of Stachys species, but other active constituents or their synergism must also be implicated in the antiinflammatory effect.

Topics: Administration, Oral; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Carrageenan; Diclofenac; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Edema; Glycosides; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Iridoid Glucosides; Male; Phytotherapy; Plant Components, Aerial; Plant Extracts; Pyrans; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Stachys

Two saponins: scrokoelziside A (1), scrokoelziside B (2), one iridoid glycoside, eurostoside (3), and two flavonoids: nepitrin (4) and homoplantaginin (5), were isolated from the leaves of Scrophularia ningpoensis for the first time. Moreover, eight known compounds: cane sugar (6), harpagide (7), aucubin (8), 6-O-methylcatalpol (9), harpagoside (10), angoroside C (11), beta-sitosterol (12) and beta-sitosterol glucoside (13) were isolated from the roots of S. ningpoensis. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activity of the extracts of the leaves of S. ningpoensis and the 10 compounds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) was studied in vitro against eight reference strains of bacteria by using the disc-diffusion method and micro-well dilution assay. The extracts of leaves and scrokoelziside A are effective against beta-haemolytic streptococci but had no effect against other strains. The extract of roots and other compounds showed no activity against all bacterial strains at the test concentration.

Topics: Anti-Infective Agents; Bacteria; Flavonoids; Glucosides; Glycosides; Iridoid Glucosides; Iridoid Glycosides; Iridoids; Luteolin; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Molecular Structure; Plant Extracts; Plant Leaves; Plant Roots; Pyrans; Scrophularia; Sitosterols; Triterpenes