Study on the Chemical Composition of Black Slugs (II)
Slugs belong to the gastropod class, gastropod class, and slug family. They are soft bodied animals with lungs and are commonly known as “slime worms, slugs, dragonflies, earthworms, and attached snails” because their bodies are covered in mucus. Slugs, as a traditional Chinese medicine, have a salty and cold taste and enter the lungs, liver, and large intestine meridians. They have functions such as dispelling wind and calming the nerves, clearing heat and detoxifying, and breaking blood stasis and promoting meridian circulation. They are mainly used to treat conditions such as central wind stagnation, muscle spasm, seizures, wheezing, throat obstruction, pharyngswelling, abscess, phlegm nucleus, hemorrhoid swelling and pain. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that slug extract can inhibit the growth of cervical cancer HeLa cell xenografts in nude mice, as well as suppress the telomerase gene hTERT and alter the expression of mutant P53 in lung cancer cells. At the same time, the freeze-dried powder of slugs can significantly prolong the latent period of cough, reduce the frequency of coughing, and have the effect of stopping cough, resolving phlegm, and relieving asthma. It can also significantly reduce the infiltration of eosinophils in the lung tissue of asthmatic guinea pigs, and has a good therapeutic effect on bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis. In the early stage of this project, experiments were conducted on DPPH free radical scavenging, cell anti-inflammatory, and enzyme activity screening. It was found that the lipid soluble parts of the methanol extract of black slugs have various biological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and blood glucose and lipid lowering. Using n-hexane as a solvent, the active ingredients can be effectively extracted. Literature reports that slugs contain polysaccharides, amino acids, sterols, and other components. Plant sterols are closely related to the absorption, degradation metabolism, and biochemical synthesis of cholesterol in the human body, affecting changes in blood glucose and blood lipids. However, there are currently few reports on the physiological activity of animal sterols. In order to comprehensively understand the material basis of the n-hexane extract of black slugs (Agriolimax agrestis Linnaeus), this experiment systematically isolated and purified the n-hexane extract of black slugs, and conducted preliminary screening of compounds for α – glucosidase inhibitory activity.

Fifteen compounds were isolated from the n-hexane extract of black slugs, mainly consisting of long-chain fatty acids and sterols. Among them, six sterols were identified, with sterols 9 and 14 being the main components. Except for compound 9, all other compounds were isolated for the first time from this animal medicine. Plant sterols have various biological activities, such as inhibiting the absorption of cholesterol by the human body, promoting cholesterol degradation metabolism, and inhibiting cholesterol biochemical synthesis. However, there are currently few reports on the physiological activities of animal sterols. This experiment preliminarily screened the alpha glucosidase inhibitory activity of 7 compounds with high purity. The results showed that compounds 6 and 10 had weak inhibitory activity against alpha glucosidase, while other compounds had little inhibitory effect on alpha glucosidase. The preliminary experimental results showed that the active site has inhibitory activity against alpha glucosidase, and the active ingredients may be various detected terpenoids.