• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.8
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• pp.892-896
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• 2005

In order to isolate substances that inhibit the hemolytic activity of human serum against eryth-rocytes, we have evaluated whole plants of the Orostachys japonicus species with regard to its anti-complement activity, and have identified its active principles following activity-guided isolation. A methanol extract of the O. japonicus, as well as its n-hexane soluble fraction, exhibited significant anti-complement activity on the complement system, which was expressed as total hemolytic activity. A bioassay-guided chromatographic separation of the constituents resulted in the isolation of three known compounds 1-3 from the active n-hexane fraction. The structure of these compounds were analyzed, and they were identified as hydroxyhopanone (1), $\beta-sitosteryl-3-O-\beta-D-glucopyranosyl-6'-O-palmitate$ (2), and $\beta-sitosteryl-3-O-\beta-D-glucopyranoside$ (3), respectively. Of these compounds, compound 2 exhibited potent anti-complement activity $(IC_{50}=1.0\pm0.1{\mu}M)$ on the classical pathway of the complement, as compared to tiliroside $(IC_{50}=76.5\pm1.1{\mu}M)$, which was used as a positive control. However, compounds 1 and 3 exhibited no activity in this system.