Isolation and quantitative analysis of metabolites from Scrophularia buergeriana and their hepatoprotective effects against HepG2 cells

The roots of Scrophularia buergeriana were extracted with 80% aqueous Methanol and the concentrates were partitioned into EtOAc, n-BuOH, and H₂O fractions. The repeated silica gel or octadecyl SiO₂column, and medium pressure liquid chromatographies for the n-BuOH fraction led to isolation of phenylethanoid glycosides and iridoid glycosides. The chemical structures of these compounds were determined as harpagoside (1), angoroside C (2), aucubin (3) and acetoside (4) based on spectroscopic analyses including nuclear magnetic resonance and MS. A simple and efficient HPLC with UV detection method for the simultaneous determination of the four compounds (1-4) has been developed and applied to their content determination in the S. buergeriana. The roots were extracted by 80% methanol, and the contents of 1, 2, 3, and 4 were determined to 11.5, 7.6, 41.2, and 4.8 mg/g, respectively. Additionally, angoroside C (2) and acetoside (4) exhibited hepatoprotective effect against ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in HepG2 cell line.