Antitumor Constituents From The Ethyl Acetate Fraction Of Ethanolic Extract Of Equisetum Hiemale L.

Equisetum hiemale L. is a weed of the Equisetaceae family, which is widely distributed in north and northeast of China. The dried aerial part of E. hiemale has been used as a traditional Chinese folk medicine for a long time. In this paper, the antitumor constituents from the ethyl acetate fraction of ethanolic extract of the dried aerial part of E. hiemale was studied. By using various chromatographic methods, including silica gel column and Rp C18 silica gel column chromatography,8 compounds were isolated and their structure was identified as a-D-fructofuranose (1), sucrose (2), a-D-glucopyranosyl-a-D-glucopyranoside (3), keampferol-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4), herbacetin8-O-(β)-D-glucopyranoside (5), keampferol-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6),2-methoxy-trans-cinnamylic acid-β-D-glucopyranoside (7), trans-ferulic acid-β-D-glucopyranoside (8) by spectral evidences. Of them, compounds 5,7,8 were isolated from the plants of this genus for the first time. In cytotoxic assays in vitro, Compounds 2-8 exhibited cytotoxicities, with IC50 values of 170.95 μM,190.43 μM,117.25 μM,185.89 μM,184.63μM,207.30μM,76.33μ, respectively, against human epithelial carcinoma cell line (Hela cells), and with IC50 values of 177.19 μM,158.96 μM,137.62 μM,165.11 μM,150.68μ,123.71 μM, 192.04 μM, respectively, against human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line (Hep G2 cells).