Abstract
A polysaccharide, evodiasaccharide-B (ES-B), was purified by precipitation with 80 % ethanol, centrifugal ultrafiltration, dialysis, gel-filtration on Toyopearl HW-55s, anionexchange chromatography and again gel-filtration on Toyopearl HW-55S from the H 2 O-soluble fraction of the fruits of Evodia rutaecarpa (Juss.) Benth. (Rutaceae). Homogeneity of the ES-B was determined by gel-filtration and electrophoresis. ES-B was composed of nearly equal amount of uronic acids and neutral sugars. Galacturonic acid is the main uronic acid and galactose, rhamnose, mannose and arabinose are present in the neutral sugars. ES-B (0.5 mg/kg i.v.) increased the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of anesthetized cats for 20 min. It had however, negligible effects on other cardiorespiratory functions. These results suggest that ES-B is an active substance in the hot-water extract from the fruits of E. rutaecarpa which selectively increases the CBF.