Compounds with neuroprotective activity from the medicinal plant Machilus thunbergii

Abstract

The dichloromethane fraction of the bark of Machilus thunbergii Sieb. et Zucc. (Lauraceae) significantly protected primary cultures of rat cortical cells exposed to the excitotoxic amino acid, L-glutamate. Through the activity-guided isolation from the CH₂Cl₂ fraction, (+)-9′-hydroxygalbelgin (1), isogalcatin B (2), (7S,8S,8′R)-3′,4′-dimethoxy-3,4,-methylenedioxylignan-7-ol (3), 1-hydroxy-7-hydroxymethyl-6-methoxyxanthone (4), 5,7-dimethoxy-3′,4′-methylenedioxyflavan-3-ol (5), (+)-(3S,4S,6R)-3,6-dihydroxypiperitone (6), protocatechuic acid methyl ester (7) and tyrosol (8) were obtained. All of them had significant neuroprotective activities against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in primary cultures of rat cortical cells at concentrations ranging from 0.1 μM to 10.0 μM and were comparable to MK-801, a well-known inhibitor of glutamate receptor.

Keywords::

• Machilus thunbergii
• Tyrosol
• Neuroprotective
• Antioxidant

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant (M103KV010024-06K2201-02410) from Brain Research Center of the 21st Century Frontier Research Program funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Republic of Korea.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.