Bioactivities of compounds from elephantopus scaber, an ethnomedicinal plant from Southwest China

Abstract

Elephantopus scaber is an ethnomedicinal plant used by the Zhuang people in Southwest China to treat headaches, colds, diarrhea, hepatitis, and bronchitis. A new δ-truxinate derivative, ethyl, methyl 3,4,3′,4′- tetrahydroxy-δ-truxinate (1), was isolated from the ethyl acetate extract of the entire plant, along with 4 known compounds. The antioxidant activity of these 5 compounds was determined by ABTS radical scavenging assay. Compound 1 was also tested for its cytotoxicity effect against HepG2 by MTT assay (IC50=60 μM), and its potential anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, and antitumor bioactivities were predicted using target fishing method software. © 2014 Jianjun Wang et al.