Xanthones from Swertia punicea (Gentianaceae)

The genus Swertia (Gentianaceae) has about 170 species distributed widely throughout the world, many of which have been used as medicinal herbs for the treatment of hepatic, choleric and inflammatory diseases in different countries and regions [1,2]. In China, Swertia punicea Hemsl. is called „Ganyancao“ used as a traditional folk medicine to treat fever, toxification, hepatogenous jaundice and cholecystities [3]. The previous phytochemical studies reported xanthone derivatives, iridoid glycosides and triterpenoids from the title species [4,5]. In our continued search for bioactive compounds from this species, two new dimeric xanthone glycosides swertiasides A and B (1 and 2), one novel trimeric glycoside swertiaside C (3) and two novel trimeric C-glycosides swertiasides D and E (4 and 5), were isolated, along with twelve known xanthones, namely, swertiabisxanthone-I 8′-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), swertiabisxanthone I (14), 3-O-demethylswertipunicoside (7), swertipunicoside (8), norswertianolin (9), swertianolin (10), norbellidifodin (11), bellidifodin (12), mangiferin (13), campestroside (15), gentisin (16), swerchirin (17). In addition, the neur-protective activities of xanthones (1–13) against H₂O₂-induced PC12 cell damage were evaluated. Compounds 2, 6 and 7 showed remarkable neuroprotective activity against H₂O₂-induced PC12 cell damage.

Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovation Team in University (No. 985–2-063–112) and the Cultivation Fund of the Key Scientific and Technical Innovation Project, Ministry of Education of China (No. 104218). References: [1] Wang Y, Yang JS (1992) Nat Prod Res Dev 4: 99–114. [2] Cao YH, Wang Y, et al. (2005)J Pharm Biomed Anal 39: 60–65. [3] Yu FZ, Dong GP (1999) Chin J Ethnomed Ethnopharm 36: 53–55. [4] Tan P, Hou CY, et al. (1992) Phytochem 31: 4313–4315. [5] Tan P, Hou CY, et al. (1991)J Org Chem 56: 7130–7133.

P43, Fig.1