Hosta plantaginea was a traditional Chinese medicinal plants used to treat inflammatory and painful diseases with partial scientific validation. Solvent extractions followed by repeated chromatographic purification of the H. plantaginea flowers led to the isolation of one new flavonoid glycoside, hostaflavone A (1), together with one related known compound, kaempferol-3-O-sophoroside-7-O-glucoside (2), and their structures were elucidated on the basis of chemical and spectral evidence, as well as by comparison with literature data. Compounds 1 and 2 were evaluated for the anti-inflammatory activites against cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2) and DPPH free radical-scavenging activities in vitro. The results revealed that 1 and 2 exhibited significant COX-1 inhibition and moderate COX-2 inhibition compared to the reference celecoxib. Additionally, 1 and 2 displayed insignificant antioxidant activities compared to the positive control L-ascorbic acid.
Keywords: antioxidant; cyclooxygenase inhibition; flavonoid glycosides.