Objective: The fruit stalk of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (S. chinensis) has been found to contain bioactive components similar to the fruit of S. chinensis. Here, we report a recent discovery about new nortriterpenoids with a novel skeleton and anti-gastric cancer activity, which were isolated from the fruit stalk of S. chinensis.
Methods: The chemical components of ethyl acetate extract from 70% ethanol extract from S. chinensis fruit stalk were separated, purified, and identified by liquid chromatography methods (silica gel, ODS, HPLC) and extensive spectroscopic analyses (NMR, IR, UV, MS, CD).
Results: Two new nortriterpenoids, schilancitrilactone M and 25-hydroxyl schindilactone D (1 and 2), along with ten known nortriterpenoids (3-12) were isolated from the fruit stalk of S. chinensis. The isolated compounds were tested for their cytotoxic activities against MGC-803 cells, and the results showed that compounds 6-8 possessed significant activities with IC 50 of 9.01, 11.77, and 2.74 μmol/L, respectively.
Conclusion: Twelve nortriterpenoids including two new compounds were isolated from the fruit stalk of S. chinensis for the first time. Among them, compounds 6-8 showed significant anti-gastric cancer activities. We postulated that the fruit stalk of S. chinensis could be used as an anti-gastric cancer drug.