Bioactive constituents study of Pugionium cornutum L. Gaertn on intestinal motility.

Thirty-one compounds were obtained and identified from the dried roots of Mongolian medicinal and edible plant, Pugionium cornutum L. Gaertn. Eight of them were new ones, and named as pugcornols A (1), B (2), C (3), and D (4), pugcornosides A (5), B (6), C (7), and D (8), respectively. Among them, 1-4 were rare naturally occurring thiohydantoin derivatives. Meanwhile, all the isolates were determined for their activities on isolated mice jejunum contraction, and ten of them increased height of the spontaneous contractions. Moreover, we partly clarified the mechanism of 5-(methylsulfinyl)-pentanenitrile (9), a characteristic compound in P. cornutum by using different kinds of inhibitor.