In vitro anti-allergic screening of medicinal herbal extracts revealed that the 80% acetone extract of the rhizome of Kadsura coccinea inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and recombinant mouse interferon-γ (IFN-γ) activated murine macrophage like cell line, RAW264.7. Further fractionation of the EtOAc extract led to the isolation of one new 3,4-seco-lanostane type triterpene named kadsuracoccin acid A (1) together with two known triterpenes anwuweizonic acid (2) and neokadsuranic acid B (3). Compounds 1-3 did not exhibit any inhibitory activities for NO production and IFN-γ activation.
Keywords: Kadsura coccinea; NO production inhibitory activities; Triterpene.