We isolated five phenolic glycosides (acteoside, eutigoside B, isoacteoside, rutin and cornoside) from Abeliophyllum distichum leaves by high-speed counter current chromatography (HSCCC) using a solvent system of ethyl acetate:n-butanol:water (8:0.7:5). We determined the purity of the 5 compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography, and confirmed their chemical structures by using nuclear magnetic resonance data. We examined the inhibitory effect of these compounds on rat lens aldose reductase. Among these compounds, acteoside (1) showed the most potent inhibitory effect, with an IC₅₀ value of 1.39 μM. The inhibitory effect of 1 was 5.0 times greater than that of quercetin (7.05 μM), which was used as a positive control. These results suggest that acteoside may be a promising agent for the prevention or treatment of diabetic complications. Moreover, HSCCC is a promising method for the isolation and purification of biologically active compounds from natural products.

We report here the use of high-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) in the preparative isolation and purification of the bioactive component, fucosterol, from Pelvetia siliquosa. A crude extract was obtained by ultrasonic extraction of powdered P. siliquosa using methylene chloride and was then subjected to separation and purification by HSCCC, coupled with evaporative lightscattering detection. Preparative HSCCC was performed successfully using a two-phase solvent system, n-heptane:methanol (3:2, v/v), to obtain 10.96 mg fucosterol with 96.8% purity from 50 mg of crude extract; the recovery rate was approximately 90.5%. Key words: Pelvetia siliquosa, Fucosterol, High-speed countercurrent chromatography, Evaporative light-scattering detection IntrodutionPelvetia siliquosa ("Tumbugi" in Korean) belongs to the family Fucaceae. It is a marine alga endemic to the Korean peninsula and grows on the craggy surfaces of the southern seashores (Yoon, 1995). It has been used traditionally similarly to seasoned sea greens for religious services and as a health food (Oh et al., 1990).Results of our previous studies indicate that the ether fraction of P. siliquosa exhibits hepatoprotective and glucoselowering effects, and fucosterol isolated from P. siliquosa has antioxidant and antidiabetic activities (Lee et al., 2002(Lee et al., , 2003(Lee et al., , 2004b. Additionally, it has been reported that fucosterol decreases angiotensin-converting enzyme levels, with a reduction in the glucocorticoid receptor in endothelial cells and inhibits the lymphatic absorption of cholesterol in rats (Hagiwara et al., 1986;Ikeda et al., 1988). Thus, fucosterol is a major component responsible for the various activities of the algae. Fucosterol is usually isolated by extraction with a non-polar solvent and silica-gel column chromatography and is analyzed as the trimethylsilyl derivatives by gas chromatography. We have previously reported a method for the quantitative determination of fucosterol in marine algae to accurately determine their composition and thus generate fingerprints. The structural identification of fucosterol was performed with infrared spectrum (IR), electron impact-mass spectrum (EI-MS), 1 H NMR and 13 C-NMR with tetramethylsilane (TMS) as internal standard. This structure was also confirmed by comparing with the previously reported spectral data. Its structure is shown in Fig. 1 (Lee et al., 2004a).High-speed countercurrent chromatography (HSCCC) is a liquid-liquid partition chromatographic technique that has recently gained increased interest. This technique relies on the use of centrifugal force for the retention of the stationary phase. HSCCC is more advantageous than other liquid-liquid techniques because of the shorter separation time, wider range of possible solvent systems, and quantitative material recovery Hostettmann, 1994, 2006;Ito, 2005 Original ArticleFish Aquat Sci 15(3), [191][192][193][194][195] 2012 Fish Aquat Sci 15(3), [191][192][193][194][195] 2012 http://dx.doi.org/10.5657/FAS.20...

Korean mint, Agastache rugosa Kuntze belongs to the family Labiatae, is a perennial herb widely distributed in East and Southeast Asian countries. Agastache rugosa has been used in Chinese traditional medicine for the treatment of cholera, emesis and miasma and has been reported to have antitumor, antifungal, HIV integrase inhibitory and cytotoxic activities 1-7. In addition, the leaves and flowers of A. rugosa are used as spices in fish-based foods and as a source of honey, respectively 8. Estragole (p-allylanisole, methyl chavicol), a component of the essential oil extracted from A. rugosa, is used as a sweet condiment as well as in perfumes and salad dressings. Moreover, estragole is an important constituent of root beer and can be used to prepare other flavoring agents such as anethole and anisaldehyde. In Korea, the essential oil from A. rugosa has traditionally been used for medicinal purposes 8. In addition, estragole is a major component (56-94 %) of the leaf of natural populations of A. rugosa grown in Ames, Iowa 9,10 and Ishikawa, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan 11,12. In contrast, a population of A. rugosa (A. rugosa O. Kuntze var. methyleugenolifera) collected from Kitami, Hokkaido, Japan, has been found to contain

To evaluate the aldose reductase (AR) enzyme inhibitory ability of Prunella vulgaris L. extract, six compounds were isolated and tested for their effects. The components were subjected to in vitro bioassays to investigate their inhibitory assays using rat lens aldose reductase (rAR) and human recombinant AR (rhAR). Among them, caffeic acid ethylene ester showed the potent inhibition, with the IC50 values of rAR and rhAR at 3.2 ± 0.55 μM and 12.58 ± 0.32 μM, respectively. In the kinetic analyses using Lineweaver-Burk plots of 1/velocity and 1/concentration of substrate, this compound showed noncompetitive inhibition against rhAR. Furthermore, it inhibited galactitol formation in a rat lens incubated with a high concentration of galactose. Also it has antioxidative as well as advanced glycation end products (AGEs) inhibitory effects. As a result, this compound could be offered as a leading compound for further study as a new natural products drug for diabetic complications.

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