Studies On The Chemical Constituents And Bioactivities Of Lepdium Meyenii Walp Cultivated In Jiiin Province

Lepidium meyenii Walp or maca belonging to the family Brassicaceae has beenconsumed as food and medicine for thousands of years in Peru. Maca containsnumerous valuable nutritional ingredients that endow it with a wide range ofbiological activities. Specifically, maca enhances libido and fertility, improvesphysical and mental conditions, prevents estrogen deficient bone loss, and improveslearning and memory. With the current high prevalence of sexual dysfunctionsworldwide, maca has inevitably attracted increasing attention because of its ability toimprove fertility and provide energy.As the variety of Lepidium meyenii Walp, the chemical compounds and thebiological activities are differfent. Maca, cultivate in Jilin province, was just startedfew years ago. It is far from enough the research about chemical compounds andbiological activities. For these reason, we study the chemical constituents andbioactivities of the maca,cultivate in Jilin province.By various methods of isolation,17compounds were isolated, and by the meansof the physicochemical properties and spectroscopic methods (1HNMR,13CNMR,2D-NMR, ESI-MS)，13compounds were elucidated as:N-methyl-3-hydroxy-Benzeneacetamide (1), N-benzyloctadecanamide (2),Benzeneacetamide (3), Benzylamine (4),3-methoxyphenylacetic acid (5),Phenylacetic acid (6),4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoic acid (7), Nicotinic acid (8),3,4-dihydroxy-Benzoic acid methyl ester (9), Adenosine (10), L-Valine (11),Daueosterol (12), β-sitosterol (13). Among of them, compound (1) was identifled asa new natural compound, and compounds (3),(4),(5),(6),(9),(12) were obtainedfrom the Lepidium meyenii Walp for the first time. We also verify.To research the bioactivities of maca cultivated in Jilin province, we designseveral pharmacodynamic experiments of aged male rats after22days treatment bythe extractive of maca. The rats were examined in terms of sexual behavior, bodyweight, testis index, epididymis index, and prostate index, epididymal sperm count, and epididymal sperm motility. Serum testosterone level and brain serotonin (5-HT)and dopamine levels were also detected to evaluate the aphrodisiac andfertility-enhancing properties of the aerial parts of maca. the Lepidium meyenii Walpcultivate in Jilin province has a significant enhance fertility-enhancing activities.These findings might provide some suggestions on drug design with betteraphrodisiac and fertility-enhancing properties of natural origin.