Study On Anticancer Constituents From Duchesnea Indica

Duchesnea indica (Rosaceae) is one of important medicinal plants occouring in south of Liaoning to Hainan Province in China. Pharmacological experiments indicate that this plant has anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, immunity-improving and central nerve-inhibiting activities. It has been used as folk medicine for treatment of fervescence, cough, haematemesis and throat-swelling diseases for many years. Many chemical constituents, including triterpenes, triterpene-glycosides, coumarinand, flavonoids and sterols have been reported from D.indica. Our previous study showed that the P.E., EtOAc, and BuOH extracts revealed significant antitumor activities on Hela and L929 cells (Table 5-3). In order to search the antitumor constituents from natural source, we began to study the chemical constituents from D.indica. By column chromatography, including Silica gel, Toyopearl HW-40 and preparative HPLC, 20 compounds were isolated from D.indica. Their structures were identified by means of 1H-NMR,13C-NMR and 2D-NMR spectra. Compound 1 was identified as a novel triterpene and 2-5, 7, 10-14 were firstly found from this plant. The structures about tocopherols and diterpenes were identified from D.indica for the first time.The isolated compounds 5, 6, 8, 10 were screened by antitumor bioassay. Compound 5, 6, 8 revealed significant antitumor activities. Compounds 10 revealed strong activity more than other compounds.