Characteristic biflavonoids from Daphne kiusiana var. atrocaulis (Rehd.) F. Maekawa

Abstract

Structurally diverse biflavonoids have attracted significant research interest for drug discovery over past decades. Biflavonoid oriented phytochemistry research on the stems of Daphne kiusiana var. atrocaulis (Rehd.) F. Maekawa was carried out, which resulted in the identification of ten major effective components (1–10), including the undescribed biflavonoids, daphnodorin Q (1), daphnodorin R (2) and flavane, daphnekiuslin A (10). The known structures were identified from this herb for the first time. Their structures were determined by combination of multiple spectroscopic data as well as calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD). All the identified compounds were evaluated for the anti-neuroinflammatory effects. Compound 9 could inhibit the overactivation of BV-2 cells induced by lipopolysaccharide with IC₅₀ value at 26.32 μM.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Daphne kiusiana var. atrocaulis (Rehd.) F. Maekawa
• biflavonoid
• identification
• overactivation of microglia

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the [National Natural Science Foundation of China 1] under Grant [number U1903122, 81872768, 82003630, 82174076]; [LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program 2] under Grant [number XLYC1807118]; [Shenyang Young Scientific and Technological Innovators Programme 3] under Grant [number RC200408]; [Doctoral Scientific Research Foundation of Liaoning Province 4] under Grant [number 2020-BS-129]; [Special Fund of Research Institute of Drug Regulatory Science Research Shenyang Pharmaceutical University 5] under Grant [number 2021jgkx010]; [Educational Committee Foundation of Liaoning Province 6] under Grant [number 2020LJC09], [China Postdoctoral Science Foundation 7] under Grant [number 2020M671384]; [The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China 8] under Grant [number N182008004]; and [the Project of State Key Laboratory for Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Medicinal Resources 9] under Grant [number CMEMR2018-B01].