College of Pharmacy, Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin, China.
Key Laboratory of Natural Resources of Changbai Mountain & Functional Molecules, Ministry of Education, Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin, China.
PLoS One. 2020 Sep 9;15(9):e0238917. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0238917. eCollection 2020.
Potentilla longifolia is a kind of Chaoyao medicine, which is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine. The plant is often referred to as ganyancao or ganyearmcao, which means that it has a significant therapeutic effect on liver inflammation. In previous experiments, we found that a water extract of ganyearmcao inhibited lipid accumulation. In the present study, we isolated one new (ganyearmcaoone A, 1) and eight known compounds (2-9) from a water extract of the dried roots of ganyearmcao; all of the compounds were isolated for the first time from this medicinal plant. We elucidated the chemical structures of these compounds using comprehensive analyses of HR-ESI-MS and 1D, 2D NMR. We evaluated the inhibitory effects of the nine compounds on lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells; we did so using photographic and quantitative assessments of the lipid content with oil red O staining and by measuring triglyceride levels. Compared with the control, compounds 6 and 9 significantly inhibited differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and lipid accumulation. Compound 1 showed potential inhibitory effects on lipid accumulation. Molecular docking results indicated that compounds 6 and 9 may efficiently bind to AMPK and its downstream kinase (SCD1), thereby inhibiting lipid accumulation. Our results demonstrate that ganyearmcao and its components may play an important role in treating diseases related to lipid accumulation in the future.
翻白草是一种朝药，属于中药的一个分支。该植物通常被称为甘草或甘偃草，这意味着它对肝脏炎症有显著的治疗作用。在之前的实验中，我们发现甘草水提取物抑制脂质积累。在本研究中，我们从甘草的干根的水提取物中分离出一个新的（甘草酮 A，1）和八个已知的化合物（2-9）；所有这些化合物均首次从这种药用植物中分离得到。我们使用 HR-ESI-MS 和 1D、2D NMR 的综合分析来阐明这些化合物的化学结构。我们评估了这 9 种化合物对 3T3-L1 细胞中脂质积累的抑制作用；我们通过油红 O 染色对脂质含量进行照相和定量评估以及测量甘油三酯水平来进行评估。与对照组相比，化合物 6 和 9 显著抑制 3T3-L1 细胞的分化和脂质积累。化合物 1 显示出对脂质积累有潜在的抑制作用。分子对接结果表明，化合物 6 和 9 可能有效地与 AMPK 及其下游激酶（SCD1）结合，从而抑制脂质积累。我们的结果表明，甘草及其成分可能在未来治疗与脂质积累相关的疾病方面发挥重要作用。
