Animal experiments were performed to develop Salvia plebeia (Labiatae) as a medicinal herb with sedative and gastroprotective activities; the former activity was measured using a pentobarbital-induced assay and the latter activity was measured in two gastric lesion-induced assays (HCl/EtOH-induced and indomethacin/bethanechol-induced assays) in mice. The MeOH extract and its EtOAc fraction were effective, although the former was less active than the latter. Rosmarinic acid (RA) isolated from S. plebeia was active in the same method at 10 and 20 mg/kg (p.o.). HPLC quantification demonstrated that RA comprised the largest proportion (28.5% of the MeOH extract, 33.0% of EtOAc extract; 4.46% of dry weight) of S. plebeia. The contents of five other compounds were much less than that of RA, although the contents of the three glycosides, 6-hydroxyluteolin 7-O-glucoside (0.28% of dry weight), cynaroside (0.35%) and nepitrin (0.43%) were higher than those of the two aglycones, quercetin (0.024%) and eupatilin (0.058%). The HPLC method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy and reproducibility. These results suggest that the main polyphenol, RA, plays a major role in the sedative and gastroprotective effects of S. plebeia.

To identify an analgesic/anti-inflammatory component from the leaves of Rhododendron aureum (Ericaceae), phytochemical isolation and pharmacological assays (writhing assays and vascular permeability assay for analgesic action in mice; carrageenan-induced paw edemaand TPA-induced ear edema assays of anti-inflammatory action in rats) were performed. Four compounds were isolated from the active fraction (BuOH fraction) by silica gel column chromatography and identified as (-)-rhododendrol, (-)-rhododendrin, avicularin and hyperoside by spectroscopic methods. Rhododendrin, the main compound of the BuOH fraction, exhibited significant analgesic actions in mice and anti-inflammatory actions in rats. This compound accounted for 3.1% of the MeOH extract and 0.48% of dried leaves, respectively, on HPLC analysis. These results suggest that rhododendrin is the major biologically active substance in the leaves of R. aureum with analgesic/anti-inflammatory activity.

On high performance liquid chromatography, the caffeoylquinic acid (CQ) occupying the highest proportion of the water-ethanol (7:3) extract of Aster glehni (Compositae) leaves was 3-Op-coumaroylquinic acid (46.10 ± 4.22 mg/g of dried weight) among CQs tested. The IC₅₀ of the water-ethanol (7:3) extract was 4.23 ± 0.24 μg/mL in the peroxynitrite (ONOO(-))-scavenging assay. Phytochemical isolation from A. glehni extract yielded three kaempferol glycosides. The water-ethanol (7:3) extract and both p-coumaric acid and caffeic acid, phenylpropanoid moieties of CQs, had sedative effects in pentobarbital-induced sleeping time in mice and anticonvulsant effects in pentylenetetrazole-induced mice. Furthermore, the phenolic substance-rich W-E (7:3) extract of A. glehni could be used to treat anxiety or convulsion partly due to its peroxynitrite-scavenging mechanism.