title: Combining Sprague-Dawley rat uterus cell membrane chromatography with HPLC/MS to screen active components from Leonurus artemisia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Leonurus artemisia (Lour.) S.Y.Hu (Lamiaceae) (YiMuCao in Chinese) is a traditional Chinese medicine. Leonurus artemisia has been shown to have many pharmacological effects such as increasing uterine contraction amplitude, and tension, but the active components are still unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study is to determine active components of L. Artemisia that are responsible for the biological activity using HPLC and cell membrane-based system.
  
  
  METHODS
  The whole L. artemisia ethanol extract and its eight fractions were screened using Sprague-Dawley rat uterus cell membrane chromatography (CMC) combined with the HPLC/MS system. Oxytocin was used to investigate the activity of CMC column. The effect of active components screened from L. artemisia was studied by tension measurement of isolated rat uterine strips in vitro at a dose of 10(-7)-10(-4 )mol/L with oxytocin as a control.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The acetone extract showed obvious activity when compared with the eight extracts of L. artemisia. From the acetone extract, in the negative ionization mode, the active compound was identified as genkwanin, with a molecular weight of 283. In vitro pharmacological experiments proved that genkwanin promoted uterine contractions at a dose from 10(-7) to 10(-4 )mol/L. The EC50 value was 4.86 ± 4.21 μmol/L for genkwanin and 4.30 ± 3.65 μmol/L for oxytocin on the contractile amplitude of uterine strips isolated from rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Genkwanin was identified as the active compound in L. artemisia by this method. In vitro pharmacological experiments proved that genkwanin promoted uterine contractions. Genkwanin may be used to uterine inertia and may have an effect on postpartum hemorrhage.
authors: a The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China and.
authors: Jiangbo
authors: J
authors: Fan
authors: b School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China.
authors: Fen
authors: F
authors: Wei
authors: b School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China.
authors: Yu
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: b School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China.
authors: Hongli
authors: H
authors: Su
authors: a The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China and.
authors: Zongzheng
authors: Z
authors: Ji
authors: b School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China.
authors: Jianyu
authors: J
authors: He
authors: b School of Pharmacy, Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an , China.
authors: Shengli
authors: S
authors: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000187:drug effects*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005260:Female; D047309:Flavones / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D031332:Leonurus / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009129:Muscle Tonus / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014590:Uterine Contraction / Q000187:drug effects*; D014599:Uterus / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D047309:Flavones; D010936:Plant Extracts; C014568:genkwanin
keywords: CMC-online-HPLC/MS system; genkwanin; in vitro pharmacology experiment