The Pharmacology Studies On Total Saponins Of Oplopanax Elatus Nakai

Oplopanax elatus Nakai is a perennial deciduous shrub of Araliaceae, and distributes in northeast of China , Russia and Korea. Oplopanax elatus Nakai, whose roots and stems are used as medicine, has various effects such as invigoration, adjusting blood pressure , stimulating central nervous system. The activities are similar with those of ginseng. Oplopanax elatus Nakai has bright future as medicinal plants. Because of resource damadge, Oplopanax elatus Nakai has been in endangered status recently, already listed as secondary protective plant of our country.The scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of studies on plant morphology, ecological environment, characteristic properties of biology and chemical constituents of Oplopanax elatus Nakai. It was discovered that layerage and cuttage are good ways to breed Oplopanax elatus Nakai quickly in order to provide stable source for clinical application. The chemical constituents research of Oplopanax elatus Nakai, important to pharmacological activity and clinical application, showed that Oplopanax elatus Nakai contains saponins, volatile oils, fatty acids, anthraquinones, flavones, microelements, ect. The research on pharmacology of Oplopanax elatus Nakai was rarely reported. There are only some about volatile oils on antisepticize, antiinflammatory, etc. The pharmacology research of other chemical constituents have not been reported systematically.In this article we studied the preparation technology and pharmacology -- circulation system, respiratory system of rats and central nervous system of mice -- of total saponins extracted from Oplopanax elatus Nakai. We also studied the mechanism of adjusting blood pressure by determination of monoamines in the blood serum. The results included several parts below:1. Referring to the related literature, We reviewed studies on plant morphology, ecological environment, characteristic properties of biology, chemical constituents, pharmacology and clinical application of Oplopanax elatus Nakai.2. The technology to extract total saponins from the leaves of Oplopanax elatus Nakai is reflux extration with 60% ethanol(8 folds) for 3 times, half an hour once. The purification technology is: loading amount should be no more than 6g dried herb for per gram macroporous resin; 4BV 20% ethanol is needed to get rid of impuries, then 6BV 60% ethanol elute the column at the rate of 1BV/h.3. We studied pharmacological effects of total saponins on the circulation system such as blood pressure , heart rate and respiratory system such as respiratory rate, repiratory extent of rats. The total saponins has no obvious influence on heart rate, repiratory rate and respiratory range of rats. The result indicates that blood pressure increased after injection of total saponins (17.5 mg/kg), decreased slightly afer injection of total saponins (70 mg/kg), which showed two-way regulation to blood pressure of rats. The effect of elevating blood pressure was antagonized by phentolamine and was not antagonized by propranolol. The above result indicates the elevating blood pressure effect has some relations withα-acceptor, and total saponins may agitate it to make blood pressure increase. The concentration of blood serum monoamine, DA, NE and 5-HT was meansured. The result showed that the concentration of NE and DA in the blood serum of the administration group had no significant difference with that of the control group. But the concentration of 5-HT was lower. This phenomenon indicates that the variation of blood pressure is related with 5-HT.4. We studied the effects of total saponins on nervous system such as normal behavior, locomotor activity and coordinated motion of mice. The result showed that total saponins prolonged the sleeping time of mice injected pentobarbital sodium and had no influence on normal behavior and coordinated motion of mice. This indicates total saponins has no effect on the central nervous system of mice.The studies on the preparation and pharmacology of total saponins provide scientific data for drug developing, and are meaningful to improve medical value of Oplopanax elatus Nakai.