Separation and characterization of bioactivity compounds from Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium: investigation of the lipid-lowering and anti-oxidant activities.

Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (Rutaceae, CRP) is commonly utilized as a qi-regulating drug in numerous Chinese medicine formulations. However, the correlation between active components of CRP and lipid-lowering efficacy remained to be further studied. This research involved the extraction and characterization of six compounds from CRP using 70 % ethanol, RP-C18, thin layer chromatography (TLC), Sephadex LH-20, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Notably, Kynurenic acid and lauric acid were isolated from CRP for the first time in this study. The results showed that tangeretin and lauric acid could significantly reduce fat accumulation in LO2 cells and down-regulate the contents of triglyceride and cholesterol. At the same time, Tangeretin and lauric acid mitigated oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide in LO2 cells. This study not only enriched the compound library of CRP, but also further clarified the key compounds and efficacy of CRP in lipid-lowering.