Lignans from the shed trunk barks of the critically endangered plant Abies beshanzuensis and their anti-neuroinflammatory activities

Abstract

During a further and comprehensive phytochemical investigation on the shed trunk barks of the critically endangered plant Abies beshanzuensis, one new (1) and ten known (2–11) lignans with diverse structures were isolated. On the basis of spectroscopic methods, the new structure was established to be (7S,8R,8′R)-4′-methoxyl-α-conidendrin (1). Among the isolated lignans, (−)-matairesinol (5) and (−)-arctigenin (6) showed significant anti-neuroinflammatory activities by inhibiting the overproduction of nitric oxide in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated murine BV-2 microglial cells, with IC₅₀ values of 11.5 and 19.0 μM, respectively.

Keywords:

• Abies beshanzuensis
• Pinaceae
• endangered plant
• lignans
• anti-neuroinflammation

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Lishui Institute of Agricultural Science (Zhejiang Province, China) for the assistance of the plant collection.