Secondary Metabolites from Inula britannica L. and Their Biological Activities

Abstract

Inula britannica L., family Asteraceae, is used in traditional Chinese and Kampo Medicines for various diseases. Flowers or the aerial parts are a rich source of secondary metabolites. These consist mainly of terpenoids (sesquiterpene lactones and dimmers, diterpenes and triterpenoids) and flavonoids. The isolated compounds have shown diverse biological activities: anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective activities. This review provides information on isolated bioactive phytochemicals and pharmacological potentials of I. britannica.

LC‐MS/MS determination of 1‐O‐acetylbritannilactone in rat plasma and its application to a preclinical pharmacokinetic study

“…Inula britannica, a Kampo medicine, is prepared from dried capitulum of Compositae plants, such as I. britannica L., and has been used to treat digestive disorders, bronchitis and inflammation (Khan et al, 2010;Seca et al, 2014). Inula britannica extract has been reported to have various biological effects, including anticancer, antifungal, antioxidant, immuno-modulation, antiinflammatory, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective activities (Iijima et al, 1995;Kobayashi et al, 2002;Song et al, 2000Song et al, , 2002Qi et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2009;Zhao et al, 2013).…”

Anti-inflammatory Terpenes from Flowers of Inula japonica

“…For example, the sesquiterpenes lactone ergolide, eupatolide, and 1-O-acetylbritanni- lactone suppress the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) by inhibiting nuclear translocation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation [22][23][24], and bigelovin inhibits inflammatory monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells [25]. Furthermore, ergolide causes the induction of apoptosis in Jurkat T cells [26], and eupatolide can augment apoptosis in human breast cancer cells [27], while 1-O-acetylbritannilactone induces the occurrence of apoptosis in HL-60 cells [28] and suppresses abnormal vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation [29]. The present study represents the first demonstration that compound 14 has an inhibitory effect against LTC 4 generation and degranulation in BMMCs.…”

An LC–MS/MS method for simultaneous determination of 1,5‐dicaffeoylquinic acid and 1‐O‐acetylbritannilactone in rat plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

“…or Inula britannica L.; it is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat digestive disorders, bronchiti, and inflammation, and as a dietary supplement (Shi et al, ; Liu et al, ). The pharmacological activities of Flos Inulae recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia include anti‐inflammatory, anticancer, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective effects (Khan et al, ; Pan et al, ; Geng & Qi, ).…”