Study on Chemical Components and Neuroprotective Activity of Silk Ear Golden Corn Orchid
There are 13 species and 5 varieties of Chloranthus Swartz plants in the Chloranthus family, mainly distributed in provinces south of the Yangtze River. The plants of the genus Jin Su Lan are widely used Chinese herbal medicines in Jiangxi Province, with a long history of folk medicine and abundant wild medicinal resources. At present, the compounds isolated from plants of the genus Cymbidium mainly include sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpene dimers, diterpenes, etc. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that Cymbidium plants have good neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and other activities. Chloranthus fortunei (A. Gray) Solms Laub, also known as Four Block Tile, is a plant of the genus Chloranthus and has the effects of dispelling wind, dampness, promoting blood circulation, and removing blood stasis.

At present, the pharmacological substance basis of the silk ear golden corn orchid is not clear enough, which seriously restricts the development and utilization of the characteristic medicinal plant resources in Jiangxi. In order to better clarify the chemical basis and improve the research content of its biological activity, this experiment used various chromatographic separation methods and spectroscopic methods to study the chemical composition of the 95% ethanol extract of Lonicera japonica. The neuronal protective effect of the monomer compound was evaluated using a PC12 cell model damaged by H2O2, hoping to provide reference for the drug development of Lonicera japonica.

In this study, 14 compounds were isolated and identified from the 95% ethanol fraction of the entire plant of Cymbidium sibiricum, including 7 sesquiterpenes (1-6, 8), 1 diterpene (7), 1 monoterpene (9), 4 flavonoids (10-13), and 1 phenolic acid (14). At the same time, the effects of some compounds on the growth of PC12 cells damaged by H2O2 were investigated, and sesquiterpenes 1-6 showed moderate neuroprotective effects. Based on previous studies on the active ingredients of plants belonging to the same genus, it is speculated that sesquiterpenes may be neuroprotective active ingredients in the silk ear golden corn orchid. At present, the compounds isolated from plants of the genus Cymbidium mainly include sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpene dimers, diterpenes, etc., especially the wuyao type sesquiterpenes and their dimers, which are characteristic components of this genus of plants. However, there are still relatively few compounds of this type found in the silk ear Cymbidium.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the major neurological diseases that causes death in elderly people worldwide. In clinical practice, AD patients often experience a gradual decline in brain function accompanied by blood stasis. Therefore, the use of traditional Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis often yields results. The development of innovative anti AD drugs from traditional Chinese medicine for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis has broad prospects. As a raw material for various traditional Chinese medicine preparations in Jiangxi Province, the medicinal herbs of the genus Jin Su Lan have the effects of dispelling wind and dampness, promoting blood circulation and dispersing blood stasis. The sesquiterpenes isolated from this plant exhibit good neuroprotective activity. In the future, we will further explore the neuroprotective effects of sesquiterpenes in the genus Cymbidium, and will use the currently isolated sesquiterpenes for targeted isolation in order to obtain structurally novel compounds. Then, guided by molecular docking and structure-activity relationship analysis, the protective effects of compounds on PC12 cells were screened. By detecting the content of ROS and the expression levels of proteins such as p-AMPK, Sirt 1, p-Sirt 1, and Sirt 3, the mechanism of action of plants in the genus Cymbidium in treating AD was explored from the perspective of alleviating oxidative stress damage, and the basis of neuroprotective active substances in this genus was elucidated.