Study of Anti-inflammatory constituents in Philippine Medicinal Plants

Research Project

Project/Area Number	61571003
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Chemical pharmacy
Research Institution	HIROSHIMA UNIVERSITY
Principal Investigator	YAMASAKI Kazuo Professor, School of Medicine, Hiroshima University, 医学部, 教授 (00034017)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	KOHDA Hiroshi Associate Professor, School of Medicine. Hiroshima University, 医学部, 助教授 (30136056) OTSUKA Hideaki Associate Professor, Shcool of Medicine, Hiroshima University, 医学部, 助教授 (00107385)
Project Period (FY)	1986 – 1987
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1987)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,200,000) Fiscal Year 1987: ¥800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000) Fiscal Year 1986: ¥1,400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000)
Keywords	Philippine / medicinal plants / antiinflammatory astivity / histamine rolease / Ehretio microphylla / Vitex negundo / rosmarinic acid / フラボノイド / ムラサキ科 / 抗炎症 / マストセル
Research Abstract	Twenty three Philippine medicinal plants were tested for their anti-histamine release properties. This activity is well correlated with anti-allergy and/oranti-inflammatory action. Of the plants tested, four species, Blumea balsamifera, Cordia myxa, Ehretia microphylla and Vitex negundo were shown to be strongly active. Vitex negundo is loclayy celled "LAGUNDI", and the leaves of which are widely used as anti-inflammatory agent in all over Philippines. From a MeOH extract of the leaves of Vitex negundo, active fraction was searched using the various solvent partitions. Among them, ethyl acetate fraction had the most powerful activity. From the fraction, four flacvonoids were isolated by repeated silica gel column chromatography. By several spectral analyses, thier structures were elucidated to be casticin(1), chrysoprenol D(2), luteorin(3) and isoorientin(4). Although 1 had not the activity, 2 and 3 showed the moderate activity, and 4 had very strong activity(IC_<50>5<micrn>). The fact indicated that 4 represented the pharmacological action of the medicinal plant. Ehretia microphylla belongs to a family, Boraginacese, and the leaves of which is used to alleviate non inflammatory ailments. Herb tea prepared from the leaves is being used as cough cure, and is prescribed for diarrhea with bloody discharge and for dysentery. From a MeOH extract of Ehretia microphylla, a phenolic acid was isolated as one of the active constituents. Spectral analysis of the compound eluciidated the structure to be rosmarinic acid. Rosmarinic acid has been reported to suppress the inflammatory response induced by the infusion of zymosan-activated plasma in rabbits. Thus, the traditional usage of the plant was justified scientifically for the first time. Two flavonoids, astragalin and nicotoflorin were also isolated from this plant, but with no activity.