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A novel acidic heteropolysaccharide (LCP-90-1) was isolated and purified from a traditional "heat-clearing" Chinese medicine, Lysimachia christinae Hance. LCP-90-1 (Mw , 20.65 kDa) was composed of Man, Rha, GlcA, Glc, Gal, and Ara, with relative molar ratios of 1.00: 3.00: 11.62: 1.31: 1.64: 5.24. The backbone consisted of 1,4- α -D-Glc p A, 1,4- α -D-Glc p , 1,4- β -L-Rha p , and 1,3,5- α -L-Ara f , with three branches of β -D-Gal p -(1 → 4)- β -L-Rha p -(1→, α -L-Ara f -(1→ and α -D-Man p -(1→ attached to the C-5 position of 1,3,5- α -L-Ara f. LCP-90-1 exhibited potent anticomplement activity (CH50 : 135.01 ± 0.68 µg/mL) in vitro , which was significantly enhanced with increased glucuronic acid (GlcA) content in its degradation production (LCP-90-1-A, CH50 : 28.26 ± 0.39 µg/mL). However, both LCP-90-1 and LCP90-1-A were inactivated after reduction or complete acid hydrolysis. These observations indicated the important role of GlcA in LCP-90-1 and associated derivatives with respect to anticomplement activity. Similarly, compared with LCP-90-1, the antioxidant activity of LCP-90-1-A was also enhanced. Thus, polysaccharides with a high content of GlcA might be important and effective substances of L. christinae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhododendron principis leaves have been used as "Dama", a Traditional Tibetan Medicine for treating inflammatory diseases. R. principis crude polysaccharides with anticomplementary activity demonstrated promising anti-inflammatory effects on acute lung injury induced by lipopolysaccharide. R. principis crude polysaccharides significantly decreased the levels of TNF- α and interleukin-6 in both serum and blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury mice by intragastric administration (100 mg/kg). A heteropolysaccharide, ZNDHP, was obtained from R. principis crude polysaccharides with successive anticomplementary activity-guided separation. ZNDHP was characterized as a branched neutral polysaccharide with a backbone composed of → 2)- β -Glc p -(1→, → 2,6)- α -Glc p -(1→, → 6,3)- β -Gal p -(1→, → 2,6)- α -Gal p -(1→, → 6,2)- β -Glc p -(1→, → 4)- α -Glc p -(1→, → 5)- β -Ara f -(1→, → 3,5)- α -Ara f -(1→, and → 4,6)- β -Man p -(1→, and the backbone structure was further confirmed by partial acid hydrolysis. In addition to anticomplementary and antioxidant activities, ZNDHP exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activity by significantly inhibiting the secretion of nitric oxide, TNF- α , interleukin-6, and interleukin-1 β of lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW 264.7 cells. However, all of these activities decreased greatly after partially hydrolyzing, indicating the importance of the multibranched structure for its bioactivity. Therefore, ZNDHP might be an important component of R. principis for treating inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new phenolic glycosides, carvacrol-2- O - β -D-apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)- β -D-glucopyranoside (1), 1-methyl-3-isopropylphenol-4- O - β -D-apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)- β -D-glucopyranoside (2), p -methoxythymol-5- O - β -D-apiofuranosyl-(1 → 6)- β -D-glucopyranoside (3), and a pair of new 8- O -4′ neolignan enantiomers (5a / 5b), together with 26 known compounds (4, 6 – 30) were isolated from the roots of Lilium dauricum. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated based on extensive spectroscopic and chemical methods, and the absolute configurations of 5a and 5b were established by electronic circular dichroism analysis. Nine compounds (1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 17, 25, 29, and 30) exhibited potent α -glucosidase inhibitory activity with IC50 values ranging from 73.4 µM to 988.2 µM. Besides, compound 19 displayed strong anticomplementary activity (CH50 : 71.6 µM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Juniperus (Cupressaceae, Pinales) plants are widely distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China. The leaves and twigs of at least 8 Juniperus species (J. pingii, J. pingii var. wilsonii, J. squamata, J. recurva var. coxii, J. saltuaria, J. indica, J. tibetica and J. convallium var. microsperma) have been used as the Tibetan medicine Xuba. At present, it is difficult to distinguish among the original species of Xuba based only on their similar morphological characteristics. However, in our previous studies, 4 Xuba samples from different Juniperus species exhibited significant differences in both anticomplementary activity in vitro and anti-inflammatory effects on acute lung injury in vivo. To identify the effective original species of Xuba reliably, in this study, we developed a sequencing-based DNA molecular technology to distinguish 14 populations of 8 Juniperus species collected from Tibet region, using trnS-G, trnD – T, and petN-psbM genomic regions to build phylogenetic trees. In addition, their anticomplementary activities were evaluated. The results showed that combined sequence of these 3 genomic regions could identify 8 Juniperus species clearly and clustered individuals of one species but from different locations, whichever phylogenetic tree was constructed. Moreover, the anticomplementary activities of the 8 species were clustered into 2 groups. Among them, J. saltuaria and J. recurva var. coxii , which formed an independent branch apart from the other 6 species in phylogenetic trees, were the most potent (CH50 : 0.029 – 0.032 mg/mL). Consequently, DNA identification of Juniperus using the combined sequence could provide beneficial guidance for further efficacy evaluation and quality control of Xuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In previous studies, crude Houttuynia cordata polysaccharides showed beneficial effects on acute lung injury in vivo , a syndrome in which anti-complementary activities played an important role. Anti-complementary activity-guided fractionation of H. cordata polysaccharides led to the isolation of two highly branched homogeneous polysaccharides, HC-PS1 and HC-PS3, with a molecular weight of 274 530 and 216 384 Da, respectively. The polysaccharides were purified by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and Superdex columns. Their structural characterization was performed by IR, GC-MS, methylation, NMR, and SEM analysis. Both HC-PS1 and HC-PS3 are composed of eight types of monosaccharides, including rhamnose, arabinose, mannose, glucose, glucuronic acid, galactose, galacturonic acid, and xylose. The main linkages of the sugar residues in HC-PS1 include terminal Rha p , terminal and 1,5-linked Ara f ; 1,3,6-linked and 1,4,6-linked Man p ; terminal, 1,4-linked, 1,3-linked, 1,3,6-linked and 1,4,6-linked and 1,3,4,6-linked Glc p ; and terminal, 1,4-linked and 1,6-linked Gal p. The main monosaccharide linkages in HC-PS3 are similar to that of HC-PS1, except the additional 1,3,4-linked Man p and the absence of 1,3,6-linked Glc p. HC-PS1 and HC-PS3 were found to inhibit complement activation through both the classical and alternative pathways with 50% inhibition concentrations of 0.272 – 0.318 mg/mL without interfering with the coagulation system. Preliminary mechanism studies indicated that both HC-PS1 and HC-PS3 inhibited the activation of the complement system by interacting with C2, C4, and C5. The results suggest that HC-PS1 and HC-PS3 could be valuable for the treatment of diseases associated with the excessive activation of the complement system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]