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Characterizing the metabolic fingerprint and anti-inflammatory activity of Hypericum gentianoides.

Hillwig ML, Hammer KD, Birt DF, Wurtele ES

Center for Research on Botanical Dietary Supplements, Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology, and Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA. mhillwig@iastate.edu

In this paper we characterize the metabolic fingerprint and first reported anti-inflammatory activity of Hypericum gentianoides. H. gentianoides has a history of medical use by Native Americans, but it has been studied very little for biological activity. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) analyses of a methanol extract show that H. gentianoides contains a family of over nine related compounds that have retention times, mass spectra, and a distinctive UV absorption spectra characteristic of certain acyl-phloroglucinols. These metabolites are abundant relative to other secondary products present in H. gentianoides, accounting for approximately 0.2 g per gram of dry plant tissue. H. gentianoides methanol extracts and a specific semipreparative HPLC fraction from these extracts containing the putative acyl-phloroglucinols reduce prostaglandin E 2 synthesis in mammalian macrophages.

Published 19 June 2008 in J Agric Food Chem, 56(12): 4359-66.
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