Two new triterpenoids preventing the hydrocortisone-induced injury in HMEC-1 cells from Momordica charantia L.

Momordica charantia L. (M. charantia) is an annual climbing herb in Cucurbitaceae. As a medicinal and edible homologous plant, it has a long history of application. This study aims to isolate and identify the chemical constituents from M. charantia and evaluate their prevention effect on hydrocortisone-induced injury in HMEC-1 cells. 10 kg of M. charantia was extracted with 95% ethanol for three times and partitioned with petroleum ether, dichloromethane and n-butanol. The dichloromethane part was performed by silica, ODS silica, Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and semi-preparative HPLC to obtain two new compounds. The prevention effect on hydrocortisone-induced injury in HMEC-1 cells of these two compounds was determined by the method of CCK-8. The cell viability of HMEC-1 cells treated with 2 (25 μM) was 85.85% ± 4.39%. The results indicated that 2 exhibited significantly prevention effect on hydrocortisone-induced injury in HMEC-1 cells but 1 exhibited no this activity in vitro.