Aim The study focused on identification and antidepression active verification of constituents from An- gelica Sinensis Radix contrubuting to Xiaoyaosan based on UPLC-PDA guided isolation technique. Methods The UPLC-PDA chromatogram of Xiaoyaosan was compared with that of Angelica Sinensis Radix. The relative retention time of each peak and the Uhraviolet spectra providing by PDA were used in the analyses. Constituents were isola- ted from Angelica Sinensis Radix under the guidance of UPLC-PDA investigation. Structures of the isolates were elu- cidated by NMR techniques. Anti-depression effect was evaluated on glutamate-induced neurons. Results Five marker peaks of Xiaoyaosan fingerprint were belong to Angelica Sinensis Radix, and they were determined as conife- ryl ferulate（ I）, E-butylidenephthalide （ II）, ligustilide （III）, Z-butylidenephthalide （ IV ）, 14-Acetoxy-12-sene- cioyloxytetradeca-2E,8E,10E-trien-4,6-diyn-l-ol（V）. Compound V was isolated from the plants of Umbelliferae for the first time. Treatment with compound I, III, IV can protect PC12 and SH-SY5Y cell from glutamate-induced cytotoxicity. Antidepression bioactivity of compound I was first investigated. Conclusion UPLC-PDA guided iso-lation technique was confirmed to be a rapid and accurate method to identify the main active constituents from An- gelica Sinensis Radix contrubuting to Xiaoyaosan.
The antidepressive effect of Xiaoyaosan is doubtless by researches while the potential antidepressive ac- tive ingredients and their mechanisms remain unclear. In order to explain the antidepressive effect of Xiaoyaosan, all of the recent reports were sought out on the current situation of the antidepressive monomer compositions of Xi- aoyaosan and their mechanism. By exploring the relationship between the effects and the active ingredients, the mechanism and the active ingredients, the antidepressive active ingredients such as quercetin, isorhamnetin, isoliquiritigenin, saikosaponinA, saikosaponinD, glycyrrhiz- kaempferol, liquiritin, isoliquiritin, liquiritigenin, inate, paeoniflorin, albiflorin, ferulic acid, curcumin and their mechanism of antidepressive such as regulating the monoamine neurotransmitter systems, regulating the neuroendocrine system, affecting the neural plasticity and neu- affecting the cytokines level, anti-oxidative stress were rotrophic, affecting the cellular and molecular mechanisms , summarized. By the overview in the level of monomer rather than formulae, we uncovered the antidepressive mech- anism of Xiaoyaosan and further confirmed that Xiaoyaosan, as a classic antidepressive Chinese prescription, had many characteristics, such as multi-level , multi-channel, multi-target and so on .
