The plant Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora PENNELL (Scrophulariaceae) grows in high-altitude regions (above 4400 m) in southeast Tibet and northwest Yunnan province in China. The root of this plant is used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of damp-heat dysentery, jaundice, and steaming of bone.1) Picrorhiza kurrooa, the other unique species of the same genus, is also widely utilized in India for the treatment of jaundice, indigestion, common fever, acute viral hepatitis, and bronchial asthma.2) The hepatoprotective action of P. kurrooa is not fully understood but may be attributed to inhibition of the generation of oxygen anions and scavenging of free radicals.3) Picroside I and kutkoside, iridoid glycosides obtained from P. kurrooa, were reported to be scavengers of superoxide anion radicals.4) Iridoid glycosides, triterpenoids, phenolic glycosides, and phenylethanoid glycosides have been isolated from the roots of P. scrophulariiflora.
5-7)In our screening program searching for antioxidative natural substances from traditional Chinese medicine, the nBuOH portion from the ethanol extract of P. scrophulariiflora showed potent antioxidative activity evaluated based on its scavenging effects on hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anion radicals, with the concentrations exhibiting 50% inhibition (IC 50 ) being 2.82 and 1.98 mg/ml, respectively. Further bioassay-guided analysis led to the isolation of 10 phenylethanoid and phenolic glycosides from the active n-BuOH fraction from P. scrophulariiflora. In this paper, we describe the isolation and structure elucidation of a new phenylethanoid glycoside, scroside D (2), along with nine known glycosides obtained from this plant. The antioxidative activities of these 10 glycosides were evaluated based on their scavenging effects on hydroxyl radicals produced by H 2 O 2 /Fe 2ϩ , and superoxide anion radicals produced by xathine/xanthine oxidase systems.
Results and DiscussionThe ethanol extract of the plant was suspended in water and then successively extracted with petroleum ether (60-90°C), EtOAc, and n-BuOH. The n-BuOH portion was chromatographed repeatedly on silica gel, C 18 , and Sephadex LH-20 to afford compounds 1-10. The other nine known glycosides were subsequently identified as 2-(3,4-dihydroxy-plantainoside D (6), 10) scroside A (7), 7) androsin (8) Medicine and Natural Products, Jinan University; Guangzhou 510632, P. R. China. Received November 11, 2003; accepted January 20, 2004 One new phenylenthanoid glycoside, scroside D (2), was isolated from the roots of Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora ( The structures of these compounds were elucidated using spectroscopic methods. The antioxidative activities of these isolated compounds were evaluated based on their scavenging effects on hydroxyl radicals and superoxide anion radicals, respectively. Compounds 1, 2, and 6 showed potent antioxidative effects as those of ascorbic acid and the structure-activity relationship is discussed.