The fruits of Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. have been traditionally utilized as both medicinal and edible resource, however, their specific phytochemical profile and anti-inflammatory mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated. This study aimed to isolate and identify the chemical constituents from the fruits and evaluate their anti-inflammatory activities. The separation was performed using a combination of chromatographic techniques. The structures of the obtained compounds were elucidated using a combination of 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The anti-inflammatory activity of the compounds was initially investigated based on their capacity to inhibit nitric oxide (NO) release from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages and further validated in a zebrafish inflammatory model. The results indicated that eight compounds were successfully isolated from Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. fruits for the first time, including ursolic acid (1), corosolic acid (2), oleanolic acid (3), maslinic acid (4), 2-O-(3′,4′-dihydroxybenzoyl)-2,4,6-trihydroxyphenylacetic acid (5), neochlorogenic acid (6), chlorogenic acid (7), 3-O-p-coumaroylquinic acid (8). In the LPS-induced RAW264.7 cell model, compounds 6 and 7 exhibited stronger activity than the positive control dexamethasone (Dex, IC50 = 11.13 μM ± 0.43 μM), with IC50 values of 6.33 μM ± 0.18 μM and 8.06 μM ± 0.35 μM, respectively. In the LPS-induced zebrafish inflammation model, compounds 6 and 7 again demonstrated significant efficacy, exerting their anti-inflammatory effect primarily through the modulation of pro-inflammatory factors Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Interleukin-1β (IL-1β).
Lv et al. (Thu,) studied this question.