Studies On The Pharmacological Activity Of Schisandra Propinqua

Schisandra propinqua (Wall.) Baill. (Schisandraceae) roots and stems are traditionally applied in the Chinese folk medicine, after topical or oral administration, as anticancer and anti-inflammatory herbal drug against fracture, stomach ache, hepatitis, vasculitis and rheumatism. Previous chemical research demonstrated that plants of 5. propinqua mainly contained lignans and triterpenoids. In order to determinate the relationship between the chemical constituents and bioactivities, the roots of S. propinqua were subjected to phytochemical and pharmacological studies.The superoxide anion, hydroxy radical, hydrogen peroxide and singlet oxygen will be produced during the procedure of metabolism in the body. They are commonly named active oxygen-derived free radicals. The disorder of generation and scavenge of free radicals can make serious injury to the body via the destruction of membranes and DNA or alteration of critical enzyme systems, and induce a number of common diseases. So, it is advised that we can treat the diseases induced by active oxygen-derived free radicals with the medicines which have effect of scavenging on free radicals. In fact, some natural compounds with the scavenging free radical activity have been found. In this paper, the scavenging activity on free radicals of extracts and compounds from S. propinqua, has been tested in different systems and by different techniques. We described their strong effect of scavenging on active oxygen-derived free radicals, and found that the scavenging effects of some compounds from 5. propinqua on free radicals were superior to those of vitamin E, a generally accepted...