Test Of Thrombolysis Effect And Study On Chemical Composition Of Non-Ephedrine Alkaloids Part In Ephedra Sinica Stapf

Ma Huang is a commonly used Chinese herbal drug derived from the aerial parts of Ephedra sinica Stapf, Ephedra intermedia Schrenk et C.A.Mey and Ephedra equisetina Bge. The chemical composition of this species is very complex. In the literature, ephedrine alkaloids have been believed as the effective components and the study on their pharmaceutical effect and chemical analysis was frequently reported; however, the relative aspects about other components (except ephedrine alkaloids) were not well investigated. Therefore we were interested in the non-ephedrine alkaloids from Ephedra sinica Stapf.The total extract of Ephedra sinica Stapf was intended to be isolated into two parts, ephedrine alkaloids and non-ephedrine alkaloids, with cyclohexane, n-hexane, methylbenzene, butyl acetate, ethyl acetate and chloroform using the simple solvent extraction. According to the qualitative and quantitative analysis by HPLC, the best effect of the above mentioned isolation was obtained with chloroform. The condition of extraction with chloroform, including solvent volume and extracting time was optimized by the evaluation with HPLC analysis. It has been shown that the non-ephedrine alkaloids part was basically separated from the ephedrine alkaloids part with double chloroform of the volume of the total extract for thrice.On the basis of the preparation of the non-ephedrine alkaloids part, the pharmaceutical effect of this part was studied with a cerebral ischemic model of SD mice developed by ferric chloride. It was first detected that the non-ephedrine alkaloids part almost has the same apparent thrombolysis effect as the ephedrine alkaloids part and hydrochloric ephedrine standard solution, which had been testified to possess the thrombolysis effect. The in-depth study on the chemical composition and the pharmaceutical effect of the non-ephedrine alkaloids part was prospective because of this new finding and the comprehensive utilization of Ephedra sinica Stapf has had the experimental basis for it.The chemical components, including flavonoids, alkaloids and organic acids, of the non-ephedrine alkaloids part were preliminarily studied. The existence of flavonoids and organic acids was confirmed by the characteristic color reaction in this part. Two simple, sensitive and reliable methods using UV/Vis spectrophotometry were developed for the determination of the total contents of flavonoids and alkaloids in the same part. These results can supply the experimental foundation for the further research of the non-ephedrine alkaloids and the comprehensive development and utilization of Ma Huang. In a word, this work can provide the valuable basis for the investigation of the chemical composition and the pharmaceutical effect of the non-ephedrine alkaloids part of Ephedra sinica Stapf.