Separation of acteoside and linarin from buddlejae flos by high-speed counter-current chromatography and their anti-inflammatory activities.

Buddleja officinalis Maxim., a deciduous, flowering shrub, is used as a traditional Chinese medicine; the bioactivity of B. officinalis is primarily due to flavonoids and phenylethanoid glycosides. In the study, acteoside and linarin were successfully isolated from B. officinalis by high-speed counter-current chromatography with a two-phase solvent system composed of ethyl acetate: n-butanol: water (5: 0.8: 5, ν/ν/ν). The purities of acteoside and linarin were determined to be 97.3% and 98.2%, respectively, using one-step high-speed counter-current chromatography separation. The chemical structures of the two compounds were identified by ESI-MS and NMR. After separation, the anti-inflammatory effects of the two compounds were evaluated using lipopolysaccharide-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Acteoside and linarin inhibited the expression of nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin 1β, which demonstrated that acteoside and linarin possessed anti-inflammatory activity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.