ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF ANTHRAQUINONES ISOLATED FROM LEAVES OF MUEHLENBECKIA HASTULATA (J.E. SM.) JOHNST. (POLYGONACEAE)

• DOI: 10.4067/s0717-97072013000200028
• Publication Date: 2013-09-06T17:04:11Z
• Authors: MARCO MELLADO; ALEJANDRO MADRID; HUGO PEÑA-CORTÉS; RODOLFO LÓPEZ; CARLOS JARA; LUIS ESPINOZA
• Keywords: DPPH assay; 0301 basic medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Emodin; Physcion; Gallic acid; Muehlenbeckia hastulata; Anthraquinones; Emodin-8-β-D-idopyranoside; 2D-NMR; 3. Good health

Three anthraquinones, the well known emodin (3) and physcion (6) and the new anthraquinone glycoside emodin-8-β-D-idopyranoside (7) were isolated from leaves of Muehlenbeckia hastulata. The antioxidant activity of these compounds was measured using the DPPH assay; all three showed weaker antioxidant activity than gallic acid. . A chloroform extract of the aerial parts of the plant may act against influenza virus at 0.125 mg/mL. An oxytoxic effect of the hexane root extract (62% of the effectiveness of phenoterol and papaverine) has also been described. Besides, hexane, dichloromethane and ethanol extracts of the aerial parts show an analgesic effect and weak antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella aviatum, Salmonella aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus flavus and Bacillus subtilis. Finally, recent studies of the antioxidant activity of Muehlenbeckia hastulata extracts report that the ethyl acetate extract from leaves has a high antioxidant activity (IC50 5.79 mg/mL) compared to gallic acid (10.52 mg/mL) 5, 14-15 . In this paper, we report the isolation of three anthraquinones (two well know and one new glycoside) from the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of the leaves of Muehlenbeckia hastulata as well as the assay of the DPPH· bleaching activity of these compounds.