Application of high-speed counter-current chromatography for isolation of triterpenes from Schisandra Chinensis (Turcz.) Baill and induction apoptosis mechanism of HSC-T6.

Triterpenes have shown many beneficial activities in researches, but their separation and preparation usually require multiple methods. Following an initial cleaning-up step on the AB-8 macroporous resin, a preparative high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) with a two-phase solvent system comprising chloroform-n-butyl alcohol-methanol-water (10:1:7:4, v/v/v/v) was used to isolate and separate triterpenes from caculis of Schisandra Chinensis (Turcz.) baill. A total of 89 mg corosolic acid with purities of 98.5% were obtained from 400 mg crude extract in one-step elution and less than 4 h, and the structure identification was performed by UV, IR, MS, 1H NMR and 13C NMR. The inhibition on liver fibrosis activities of the triterpenes against HSC-T6 in vitro were studied by cell culture methods. The results showed that the corosolic acid have better inhibitory effects on HSC-T6 cells with the IC50 value of 5~25 μg/mL and the study also indicated that corosolic acid might be a potential Chinese medical component to inhibit liver fibrosis.