Inhibition of NO activity and differential chemical constituents of the medicinal parts in Trachelospermum jasminoides and Ficus tikoua

Trachelospermum jaminoides, a liana of family Apocynaceae, is used as classic traditional Chinese medicine recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, and Ficus tikoua, a liana of family Moraceae, is used as its customary supply in some ethnic districts, both of which are used as remedies for the inflammation-related disease. In order to determine the differences of anti-inflammatory activity and related chemical constituents between the two medicinal materials, the cell viability test was used to detect the cytotoxicity (RAW264.7) of the medicinal parts in T. jaminoides and F. tikoua at different concentrations, and the Griess method was applied to detect the inhibitory effects of the two species on nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells in vitro. The ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS) combined with the OPLS-DA model in multivariate statistics were used to identify the differential chemical constituents between the medicinal parts in T. jaminoides and F. tikoua. The results were as follows: (1) The NO production inhibition rate of T. jaminoides is stronger than that of F. tikoua. (2) Twenty-one differential chemical components were identified in the stems with leaves of T. jaminoides, most of which were lignans. Ten differential chemical components in the aerial parts of F. tikoua, most flavonoids, were identified. In summary, the differential chemical constituents may be the main active substances that cause the difference in anti-inflammatory activity between the two medicinal materials. This study provides a theoretical basis for the anti-inflammatory medicinal material basis and quality control of the medicinal parts in T. jaminoides and F. tikoua.