The Study On The Chemical Constituents Of Antidepressant Activity Of Areca Catechu L

Areca catechu L is a plant of the areca palmae, and its fruit has the effects of promoting digestion and killing insects, descending qi and removing water. In folk, it is often used to treat parasitics in intestinal tract, indigestion, bellyache, dysentery, oedematous, distention, beriberi and sore etc. It is listed as the top of China's four southern medicines. The recently study shows that the extract of Areca catechu L has a significant antidepressant effect. However, antidepressant of betel nut and its mechanism of action is not very clear. In this dissertation the classic model of antidepression---mice tail suspension test (TST) was used to study the antidepressant activity of Areca catechu L, which by record the immobility time that when mice presented in a desperate state. Use the SPSS 16.0 analysis software to test the immobility time of mice for analyzing the antidepressant effect of different parts of Areca catechu L extract. Spectroscopy and chemical methods were used to study the chemical constitutions of different parts of Areca catechu L extract. Finally computer molecular simulation method was used to evaluate bond strength between monomer chemical composition and monoamine oxidase (MAO). This thesis can provide sciencetific date to further elucidate the bio-active chemical composition and the antidepressant mechanism of betel nut.The antidepressant activity test indicated that the chloroform phase from ethanol extractions of pedicle, seed, shell part of Areca catechu L showed strong antidepressant activity in mice tail suspension test, which can significantly reduced the immobile time of mice. The experiments also showed that the fat-soluble part of the Areca catechu L is the effective components in its antidepressant effect.Ten chemical constituents from extracts of Areca were isolated and purified by silica gel and sephadex LH-20 column chromatography, and then their structures were determined by spectroscopic analysis and X-Ray diffraction. The results identified the structure of seven compounds, including two triterpenes named arborinol methy ether(1) and arborinol(2); two anthraquinones named chrysophanol(3) and ph-yscion(4); a dihydroflavone named 5,4'-hydroxyl-7,3',5'-methoxy dihydroflavone(5); a saponins namedβ-Daucosterol and P-hydroxy-benzoic acid(6). Compounds 1-4 were isolated from the genus of Areca for the first time.Finally useing the molecular docking method to evaluate the combination mark between the small molecule compounds of Areca catechu L and monoamine oxidase. It is showed that the combination mark with monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is better than with monoamine oxidas B(MAO-B). The phenolic compounds, such as isorhamnetin(1), chrysoeriol(2), luteolin(3),4',5-Dihydroxy-3',5',7-trinrthoxyflavonone (4), physcion(5), chrysophanol(6) have better integration with MAO-A. We could conclude that Areca catechu L's antidepression play effect by restraining the activity of MAO-A. Also docking results can prove that the phenols such as flavonoid and anthraquinones have better binding energy than that of alkaloids. The rank is flavonoids> anth-raquinones> alkaloids. So it was initially speculated the phenols is hoped to be the potential effective antidepressant component, and its mechanism is to increase the content of monoamines transmitter in brain through reducing the contend of MAO. However, the theoretical results need to be confirmed by further bioactive testing.