Isolation, structural elucidation and anti-inflammatory activity of astragalin, (-)hinokinin, aristolactam I and aristolochic acids (I & II) from Aristolochia indica.

Astragalin was isolated for the first time along with (-)hinokinin, aristolactam I and aristolochic acids (I & II) from the extracts of Aristolochia indica L. using a new, efficient preparative HPLC method. A reversed-phase HPLC method of analysis was developed to analyse the isolated compounds. The crude extracts and the isolated compounds were tested for their anti-inflammatory potential. We report here for the first time the anti-inflammatory effects of (-)hinokinin and aristolactam I against IL-6 (IC50 = 20.5 ± 0.5 and 52 ± 8 μM) and TNFα (IC50 = 77.5 ± 27.5 and 116.8 ± 83.25 μM), respectively. (-)Hinokinin exerted its anti-inflammatory effects via NFκB-dependent mechanism whereas aristolactam I may be effective via a mechanism independent of NFκB.