Study On The Chemical Constituents And Anti-gout Arthritis Activities Of Illicium Lanceolatum A.C.Smith Root Barks

Illicium lanceolatum A. C. Smith (Illiciaceae) is native to China, which mainly distributed in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and other areas in south region of Yangtze River. As traditional medicine,I. lanceolatum has a long history of application and its roots and root bark have been applied as traditional Chinese medicine with the action of dispelling cold and relieving pain. Now,I. lanceolatum has been made into injection to relieve pain by directly injecting at the site of pain. Its seeds, fruits, roots and root bark are of toxic. If it is misused as star anise, it will lead to severe poisoning. So far, research on chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of I. lanceolatum is not enough. In this study, we search the relevant records in ancient documents and modern literatures, investigate the chemical composition systematically, and explore its activity in terms of anti-gouty arthritis. Our research provides the basis for further exploitation and utilization of I. lanceolatum resources. The content of this study mainly involves the following aspects:1. Herbal textual research of I. lanceolatumBased on textual research of ancient and modern herbal medicine books, we investigated the name, source, taste, effectiveness of I. lanceolatum, as well as several other varieties were compared, which made the medicinal material source clear, lay the foundation for studying chemical constituents and pharmacological activity, provide reference for clinical application.3. Anti-gout arthritis activity of I. lanceolatumBy injecting microcrystalline uric acid sodium into the ankle cavity of mice, animal models of acute gouty arthritis were used and evaluated successfully. With indomethacin as a positive control, we observed the effects of I. lanceolatum on prevention and treatment of gouty arthritis. The results showed that each dose group of I. lanceolatum could relieve the ankle swelling of mice in different degrees, reduce the infiltration inflammatory cells and alleviate the symptom such as synovial hyperplasia. The high dose group could also significantly reduce serum uric acid levels in model mice.2. Chemical constituents of I. lanceolatumAfter smashing the root bark of I. lanceolatum, the95%ethanol extract of it was suspended in water and extracted with petroleum ether, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, respectively. The dichloromethane and ethyl acetate fractions were subjected to repeated column chromatography on silica gel, sephadex LH-20and preparative TLC to afford26compounds. The chemical structures were deduced based on IR, UV, MS,’H-NMR,13C-NMR. Among these compounds,4-Carbonyl heptadecanoic acid was a new natural resource product and fourteen compounds such as Taxifolin-3-O-β-xylopyranoside were obtained from this plant for the first time. The constituents of the petroleum ether fraction were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and57compounds were indentified.