Pressurized liquid extraction of lignans with quinone reductase inducing activity from the fruits of Schisandra chinensis

The fruits of Schisandra chinensis Baill have been used in traditional medicine as a tonic, an antitussive and anti-aging drug [1]. The dibenzo[a,c]cyclooctadiene lignans of S. chinensis were found to prevent liver injuries, stimulate liver regeneration, inhibit hepatocarcinogenesis and liquid peroxidation in rats [2–4]. We isolated nine lignans and their ability to induce quinone reductase activity (QR) in Hepa1c1c 7 cells was tested. Among them, schisandrol A, schisandrol B, tigloylgomisin H and angeloylgomisin H showed significantly high chemoprevention index 11.32, 11.82, 14.50 and 27.77, respectively. In addition, pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) was developed for the effective extraction of four bioactive lignans. Extractions were performed at different solvent compositions (water, MeOH and EtOH) and temperatures (75, 100, 125 and 150^oC). The extraction by PLE led to a higher content (about 10%) compared with reflux and sonication extraction method. The results showed that lignans in S. chinensis induced quinone reductase activity and PLE could efficiently extract those metabolites from fruits of S. chinensis.

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