Phytochemical investigation of Asarum sieboldii var. seoulense and the phenotypic profiles of its constituents against a Parkinson's Disease olfactory cell line.

Asarum sieboldii var. seoulense is a plant species under the family Aristolochiaceae and has been used for centuries as an ingredient in a well-known Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), "Xixin", to treat symptoms of the neurodegenerative condition Parkinson's Disease (PD). Although there have been studies on the neuroprotective effect of this TCM, the phenotypic profiles of its chemical constituents against PD-implicated cellular organelles have not been reported. This research investigated the chemistry of A. sieboldii var. seoulense extract to identify the active small molecules that exhibited perturbation to the cellular compartments related to PD, potentially supporting its traditional application in treating this condition. 1H NMR-guided chemical investigation of this plant yielded twenty secondary metabolites which belong to isobutylamides, lignans and phenolics. The compounds were evaluated against an olfactory cell line derived from a PD patient using phenotypic assay. Several isolates, 2, 3, 7, 11, 13-16 and 18-20, were found to induce moderate perturbation to the staining of mitochondria, autophagosome and α-tubulin of the cells. Considering that PD pathogenesis is closely related to these cellular compartments, the results provided a rationale for the traditional application of Xixin in the treatment of PD.