Anti-Inflammatory Components from the Fruits of Amomum aromaticum

Abstract

In the course of searching for bioactive components from a Vietnamese spice, the fruits of Amomum aromaticum, a new bicyclic nonane (1) and seven known compounds including 4 monoterpenes (2, 3, 5, 6), one fatty acid (4), and two steroids (7-8) were isolated. Their structures were determined on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. This is the first report of compounds tsaokoin (2), 1β,2α-dihydroxy-p-menth-5-ene (3), oleic acid (4), βsitosterol (7), and daucosterol (8) in A. aromaticum. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory activities of the isolates, we measured their inhibitory activity against lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in a RAW264.7 murine macrophage model. The new compound rel-(1S,5R,6S)-5-methoxybicyclo[4.3.0]non-2-ene-2- carbaldehyde (1) and tsaokoin (2) showed substantial anti-inflammatory effects, with IC50 values of 17.78 and 6.31 µM, respectively. Thus, A. aromaticum fruits could be a rich source for the discovery of anti-inflammatory agents