Five extracts of the aerial parts of Aconitum carmichaeli were obtained by different solvent extraction or macroporous adsorption resin purification: ethyl acetate layer extract (EAE), n-butanol layer extract (BuE), water layer extract (WE), extract eluted by 10% ethanol from macroporous resin (10%EE), extract eluted by 80% ethanol from macroporous resin (80%EE). Antioxidant activities of the five extracts were determined by ABTS, DPPH, FRAP assays, anti-AChE activities by modified Ellman's method, in vitro anti-hepatoma activities by CCK-8 assay, and chemical constituents of 80%EE were identified by UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS. The results demonstrated that the 80%EE showed the best in vitro anti-hepatoma activity on Huh-7 cell line with an IC50 of 103.91 ± 11.02 μg/mL. 10%EE and 80%EE gave the highest antioxidant activity. Furthermore, current findings demonstrated that the aerial part of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx. has high medicinal value and may be a good natural medicine.
Keywords: Aconitum carmichaeli; HRMS; anti-hepatoma activity; antioxidant activity; biological activity.