Study Of The Chemical Constituents In Uritica Urtica Laetevirens Maxim. And It’s Anti-benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)Action

Urtica laetevirens Maxim. is a member of Urtica genus which belongs to Urticaceae. This plant is a perennial herb and is distributed widely in China, especially in northwest, northeast, north China and southwest mountainous area. It grows in the mountains, the side of roads, grasslands and slopes. It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and ethnic drug for the treatment of rheumatism, inflammation of bruises and sprains, skin pruritus, postnatal convulsion, infantile convulsion and urticaria, etc. Up to now the study of Urtica laetevirens Maxim. is very little. Benign prostatic hyperplasia(BPH) is a common disease in older men, its incidence will rise with age. Existing reports indicate that Urtica. dioica L.,Urtica. fissa Pritz. and Urtica mairei Lévl. var. Mairei have inhibitory activities against BPH in different degrees, but there is no similar reports about Urtica laetevirens Maxim.In order to further clarify inhibitory activities of Urtica laetevirens Maxim. against BPH,the effects of 95% ethanol extracts of aerial and underground parts of Urtica laetevirens Maxim. against BPH were studied by our research group. Based on the results, 95% ethanol extract of aerial part of Urtica laetevirens Maxim. had significant inhibitory activities against BPH. By contrast, 95% ethanol extract of underground part of Urtica laetevirensthe extract had little effect.The chemical constituents of Urtica laetevirens Maxim. were studied to further cl arify the effective ingredients of Urtica laetevirens Maxim. in this paper. 20 compoun ds were isolated and purified from the ethanol extract of Urtica mairei Levl. by solve nt extraction and various chromatographic methods, such as silica gel column chromat ography, Sephadex LH-20, HPLC and so on. By spectral analysis, physico-chemical pr operties and comparison with literature data, the structures of 17 compounds were ide ntified. They were elucidated as following:1H-Indole-3-carboxylic acid(1),p-hydroxyben zoic acid(2),trans-p-hydroxycinnamic acid(3),cis-p-hydroxycinnamic acid(4), trans-Meth yl 4-hydroxycinnamate(5),scopoletin(6),apigenin(7),genistin(8),5, 7,4′-trihydroxy-isoflavo ne-5-O-β-D-glucopyranoside(9),5, 7, 3′-trihydroxy-4′- methoxyl-isoflavone-7-O-β-glucopy ranoside(10),a-ionol(11);daucosterol(12),β-sito Sterol(13),uracil(14),6-hydroxypurine(15),9-β-D-ribofuranosyladenine(16),kaemferitrin,(17)kaemferitrin.Compounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are organic acids, compounds 6 iscoumarin, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 17 are flavonoids, compound 11 is terpenoid, compounds12, 13 are nonsteroidals, compounds14, 15, 16 are alkaloid s.Among them, compounds 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17 were isolated from th e genus Urtica for the first time.