A new schistosomicidal and antioxidative phenylpropanoid from Astragalus englerianus

Abstract

A new phenylpropanoid, (E)-2,3,4-trimethoxy-5-(1-propenyl)phenol (1), along with five known aromatic compounds (2–6), was isolated from the methanol extract of roots of Astragalus englerianus. Their structures were elucidated based on the analyses of extensive spectroscopic data and comparison of their physicochemical properties. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated schistosomicidal activities, and all the isolated compounds were tested for their antioxidant activities in vitro. Compound 1 showed significant schistosomicidal activity with worm mortality rates of 66.7% and 83.3% within 12 and 24 h in a drug-containing (1.16 mM) RPMI 1640 medium, respectively. Also, compound 1 exhibited excellent antioxidant activity (2,2-diphenyl-1-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)hydrazyl free radical-scavenging capability) with an IC₅₀ value of 81.3 ± 1.3 μM.

Keywords::

• Astragalus englerianus
• phenylpropanoid
• schistosomicidal
• antioxidant activity

Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundations of China (No. 31170313). The authors thank Prof. Yi-Mei Yang (Dali University, China) for providing rabbit hosts burden S. japonicum worms and associate Prof. Xiao-Bo Liu (Dali University, China) for the experimental guidance. The authors also thank TA Ling-Yun Jiang for his help with information retrieval.