A Preliminary Pharmacophylogenetic Investigation Of The Schisandraceae Family And Studies On The Chemical Constituents Of Two Medicinal Species

The family Schisandraceae consists of two genera,Schisandra and Kadsura.About 60 species distribute worldwide,while about 29 species in China.There are more than 20 schisandraceous species have been used in traditional Chinese medicine.The fruits of Schisandra chinensis known as Wu Wei Zi,and some related ones such as the fruits of Schisandra rubriflora and Schisandra henryi are used in folk medicine as substitutes of WuWeiZi.Which the stems and roots of Kadsura are often used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis,gastric and duodenal ulcer,eg.,the stems of Kadsura heteroclita are used as Ji Xue Teng.The fruits of Schisandra chinensis(Turcz.) Baill.and S. sphenanthera Rehd.et Wils.are recorded as tonic and convergent agents in the Chinese Pharmacopeia(2005),under the items Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis(WuWeiZi) and Fructus Schisandrae Sphenantherae(NanWuWeiZi),respectively.In the last several years,extensive studies on the bioactive components of schisandraceous plants have been carried out.Novel lignans and triterpenes possessing different skeletons isolated from them exhibited various biological activities including anti-HIV,anti-tumor and antioxidant activities,and attracted more attention for the scientists.The present doctoral dissertation was carried out to study the chemical constituents isolated from stems of two medicinal schisandraceous plants.34 compounds were isolated from the ethanol extracts of the stems S.henryi collected in the Jiangxi province by various column chromatographies.27 of them were identified on the basis of spectral analysis(including UV,IR,CD,MS and NMR).There are 18 lignans,(including 5 dibenzocyclooctadienes,6 aryltetralins,2 tetrahydrofurans,3 diarylbutanes,2 other lignans),3 flavanols,2 glyceroesters,1 naphthoquinone,1 xanthine and 2 steroids,of which 6 compounds were new compounds,and 7 compounds were isolated from this family for the first time.Phytochemical investigation on the acetone extract of the stems of K.oblongifolia led to the isolation of 49 compounds and 31 of them were identified.They were 20 lignans,(including 11 dibenzocyclooctadienes,8 spirobenzofuranoid dibenzocycloocta -dienes,1 other lignan),9 flavones,and 1 nortriterpenoid.Among them,4 were new compounds,1 was new natural products,and 8 compounds were isolated from this family for the first time.In order to discover the new resources from schisandraceous plants and evaluate its quality,we analyzed the main chemical constituents of schisandraceous plants by HPLC-DAD.82 collected specimens,including 13 species and 5 varieties in Schisandra, 6 species in Kadsura were investigated.The results revealed there were great differences in the contents and types of chemical constituents among the specimens from different species,localities,as well as used part.For the further surveying and arranging the traditional function of Schisandraceae, we also carried out the ethnopharmacological survey of Schisandraceae,and consulted 17 related herbariums and related Herbal's records nationwide.We documented the ethnopharmacological arrangements of schisandraceous plants which had the traditional therapeutic effects,including colloquial name,medical location,traditional usage, traditional efficacy and application,credentials specimens.In addition,preliminary investigation about the correlations in the taxonomy, chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Schisandraceae were reviewed based on references.Several correlations between the modern pharmacological researches and traditional therapeutic effects have been found.Moreover,it was also demonstrated the different pharmacological activity is related to the characteristic components of the two genera which provided the theoretical evidence to the further utilization of these plants.