Extration And Separation Of The Chemical Constituents From Safflower And Investigation Of Their Distribution In Rats

Safflower(Carthamus tinctorius L)belongs to family Compositae.Its flower has wide and important applications as a traditional Mongolian medicine.Most studies focused on the extraction and separation of safflower chemical constituents.Upon extraction and separation of the major chemical constituents from the flower,we investigated their distribution in rats after oral administration of the flower powder.The main contents are as follows:1.Extraction and isolation: safflower flower was extracted by ethanol under ultrasonication,and the extract was separated and purified by open column chromatography(ODS,Sephadex LH20,etc.)and preparative high performance liquid chromatography.Eeight safflower constituents were identified by analysis of their UPLC-MS and NMR data as: hydroxysafflor yellow A,isoquercetin,chlorogenic acid,kaempferol 3-O-rutinoside,6-hydroxy kaempferol-3,6,7-glucoside,saffloquinoside E,safflospermidine B,6-hydroxykaempferol-3-O-rutinoside-6-O-glucoside.2.Distribution study: An UPLC-MS analysis method was established for the compounds extracted,and the quantitative methods in rat tissues were optimized.After gavaging to rats safflower flower alone or in combination with the fruit of Terminalia chebula,rat heart,liver,spleen,lung,kidney and brain were collectedat five time points: 0.25 h,0.5 h,1 h,2 h,and 4 h,and analyzed with UPLC-MS.The contents of safflower compounds(hydroxysafflor yellow A and6-hydroxycanetoside-3-rutinoside-glucoside)were determined.It was found that these two safflower constituents widely distributed in various tissues,and the fruit of T.chebula helped hydroxysafflor yellow A to enter the heart and liver in a relatively short time and maintained a stable and long-lasting concentration in the heart,liver,spleen,lungs,and kidneys.3.Cell cytotoxicity test: Cytotoxicity evaluation of the extracts of safflower flower and T.chebula fruit on normal human hepatocytes and renal epidermal cells showed that the safflower extract was not toxic to either of the cell lines up to 200 μg/ml.The extract of T.chebula fruit showed lightly toxicity at the highest concentration(200 μg/ml).