harpagoside and Edema

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

Five iridoid glycosides, including the two new compounds scropolioside-D(2) (1) and harpagoside-B (2), were isolated from the aerial parts of Scrophularia deserti DEL (Scrophulariaceae). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral data to be 6-O-[2",4"-di-O-acetyl-3"-O-trans-cinnamoyl)-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl]-8 alpha-hydroxymethyl-1 alpha,5 beta,6 alpha,7 alpha,9 beta-pentahydro-7(8)-epoxy-2-oxaind-3-ene-1-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside-6'-O-acetate (1) and 5-O-beta-hydroxy-8-O-beta-trans-cinnamoyl-8 alpha-methyl-1,6,7,9-tetrahydro-2-oxaind-3-ene-1-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2), respectively. In addition, three more iridoid glycosides, scropolioside-D (3), koelzioside (4), and 8-O-acetyl-harpagide (5), were also isolated and characterized from this source. The biological activity and the structure activity relationship of the compounds were also studied, and scropolioside-D (3) and harpagoside-B (2) were found to possess significant antidiabetic and antiinflammatory activity, respectively.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental; Edema; Female; Glycosides; Hypoglycemic Agents; Iridoid Glucosides; Iridoids; Male; Mice; Plant Components, Aerial; Plant Extracts; Pyrans; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Scrophularia

Most species belonging to Scrophularia genus had been used as antiinflammatory drugs by the folk medicine. The phenylpropanoids are considered to be the active principles of these drugs with antiinflammatory action by different Authors, especially harpagoside and harpagide. In this report, the antiinflammatory effects of Scrophularia frutescens L. (Scrophulariaceae) was studied and the iridoid glucoside harpagoside has been evidenced and isolated for the first time from this plant. Aqueous extract, methanolic extract and harpagoside, isolated from the methanolic extract, were tested for antiinflammatory activity on the rat paw oedema. The results obtained showed that the aqueous extract has a small but significant antiinflammatory effect on carrageenan-induced oedema test, while methanolic extract has a lower antiinflammatory activity and the activity of the isolated harpagoside is remarkably low. Thus, the conclusion may be that S. frutescens L. is a potential antiiflammatory agent but its activity is not due to harpagoside.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; Carrageenan; Edema; Glycosides; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Pyrans; Rats; Spectrometry, Mass, Fast Atom Bombardment; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet