Identification of rosmarinic acid as the major active constituent in Cordia americana.
BACKGROUND
Preparation from leaves of Cordia americana have been widely used in traditional medicine in South Brazil to treat wounds and various inflammations.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this work was to identify the effective compounds in the ethanolic extract prepared from the leaves of Cordia americana, which is used in traditional South Brazilian medicine as anti-inflammatory and wound healing remedy.


METHODS
Isolation and structure elucidation techniques were performed in order to identify the compounds of Cordia americana and HPLC analysis was used for the quantification. The major constituent and the ethanolic extract were investigated for inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase, p38alpha MAPK, TNFalpha release and NF-kappaB as well as in the fibroblast scratch assay.


RESULTS
Rosmarinic acid (1) was identified as the major compound with an amount of 8.44% in the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Cordia americana. The ethanolic extract as well as (1) exhibited the highest inhibitory effects on 5-lipoxygenase (IC(50)=0.69 and 0.97microg/mL, resp., IC50 of BWA4C as reference: 0.3microM) and p38alpha (IC50=3.25 and 1.16microg/mL, resp., IC50 of SB203580 as reference: 0.046microM) and moderate inhibitory effects on TNFalpha release. Slight effects were observed in the fibroblast scratch assay.


CONCLUSIONS
This study increases our knowledge on the effective compound in Cordia americana and supports its use in traditional medicine. We demonstrated for the first time pharmacological effects of Cordia americana and we provide evidences for a crucial role of rosmarinic acid as the major key player.
Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry, University of Tübingen, Germany.
F
F
Geller
C
C
Schmidt
M
M
Göttert
M
M
Fronza
V
V
Schattel
B
B
Heinzmann
O
O
Werz
E M M
EM
Flores
I
I
Merfort
S
S
Laufer
D000818:Animals; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase; D001938:Brazil; D002934:Cinnamates; D031213:Cordia / Q000737:chemistry*; D053630:Depsides; D000431:Ethanol; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008084:Lipoxygenase / Q000378:metabolism*; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D000097123:Rosmarinic Acid
D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D001094:Arachidonate 5-Lipoxygenase; D002934:Cinnamates; D053630:Depsides; D000431:Ethanol; D008084:Lipoxygenase; D016328:NF-kappa B; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D000097123:Rosmarinic Acid