Two new compounds with Nrf2 inducing activity from Glycyrrhiza uralensis

Abstract

Two new compounds including a new 3-arylcoumarin liquiritcoumarin (1), and a new flavonoid glycoside crotoliquiritin (2), together with twelve known compounds (3–14) were isolated from the radix and rhizome of Glycyrrhiza uralensis. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data analyses. All of the compounds were evaluated for the cytotoxic activities. Only compound 5 showed moderate effects with IC₅₀ of 11.46 μM for A549 cells and IC₅₀ of 7.38 μM for NCI-H292 cells. Compounds 1 and 2 were demonstrated to be Nrf2 pathway activators by using a stable antioxidant response element (ARE)-dependent reporter gene assay together with immunoblot and immunofluorescence analysis.

Keywords:

• Glycyrrhiza uralensis
• 3-arylcoumarin
• flavonoid glycoside
• cytotoxicity
• Nrf2 pathway

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81973202) and the Key Research and Development Program of Shandong Province (No. 2018GSF118085).