Studies On Chemical Constituents And Antidepressant Activity

Radix et Rhizoma Nardostachyos is the root and rhizoma of Nardosiachvs and N. chinensis. It has a long history of medicine use in traditional Chinese medicine and Tibetan medicine. Genus Nardostachys includes N. chinensis, N. jatamansi and N. grandiflora. N. grandiflora distributes mainly in india. N. chinensis and N. jatamansi were merged as N. jatamansi in 2010 edition of "Chinese Pharmacopoeia", however, there were some differences in chemical compositions and pharmacological effects between them. The mergence may lead to the accuracy of medication and the destruction of N. Jatamansi Resources. Previous studies had found that antidepressant activity of N. chinensis, but its chemical ingredients has not been fully clarified. So we compared the chamical compounds by TLC and content of nardosinone in N. chinensis samples from different areas by HPLC. We conducted systematical separation of chemical composition and used the PC 12 cells lesion model to detect the antidepressant activity of the separated terpenoids.The results as follows:(1) TLC was used to analyse N. chinensis and its chemical composition, The chemical compositions of N. chinensis and N. jatamansi were similar, both have nardosinone. The spots of petroleum ether part of N. chinensis was numerous, The chemical compounds of N. chinensis concentrated mainly in parts of petroleum ether and ethyl acetate.(2) Nardosinone content in N. Chinensis samples from different areas was determined by HPLC. The determination was performed on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 column (250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm). The content of nardosinone varied from 0.114% to 1.844%, the samples from Gansu was the highest.The content of nardosinone in N. chinensis was higher than that of N. Jatamansi.(3) The chamical compounds were separated and purified via silica gel and Sephadex LH-20,18 compounds were isolated from N. Chinensis and 13 compounds were identified by MS and NMR. Six sesquiterpene compounds were nardosinone, kanshone A, gansongone, nardosinonediol, a-cyperone, dehydrogenase. Two triterpenoids were oleanolic acid, ursolic acid. Two quinone compounds were tanshinone II A, crytotanshionone. Two flavonoids compounds were acaciin, naringenin. One steroid compound was β-sitosterol.(4) Tge PC 12 cells lesione model was applied to test the antidepressant activity of the saparated terpenoids.The results show that nardosinone, gansongone, and nardosinonediol were able to protect the damaged PC 12 cells by corticosterone. Oleanolic acid showed hardly such activity.This paper analyzed the difference of chemical composition of N. chinensis and N. Jatainansi,The results provide reference for rational use of drug and the development and utilization of Nardostachys resources.18 compounds were isolated, and 13 of them were identified. Nardosinone, gansongone, and nardosinonediol showed protective effect on PC 12 cells that were damaged by high concentrations of corticosterone.The results of study provide a foundation for further study of the antidepressant activity of N. chinensis and new ideas for finding and developing low toxicity, high efficiency and new types of antidepressant drugs from natural medicine.