Correlation among cytotoxicity, hemolytic activity and the composition of steroidal saponins from Paris L.

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Cytotoxicity and hemolysis of saponins were the characteristic activities. Many researches have been devoted to the synthesis of saponins devoid of the hemolysis by structure-activity relationship studies. However, saponins contained in the plants were not fully researched on the two activities such as Parissteroidal saponins. Paris steroidal saponins as the active compounds of Paris plants have multiple effects. Materials and Methods: In the present study, we investigated the cytotoxicity and hemolytic activity of Paris plants collected from twelve places in China. The contents of nine known steroidal saponins in the plants were determined simultaneously using HPLC-ELSD method. The two activities are not related to the contents of saponins. Results: As the results of hemolysis of saponins shown, the hemolysis was positive related to the sugar chain. The membrane toxicity suggested that the integration of saponins with the membrane in erythrocyte was correlated to the kinds of saponins and the hemolysis of disosgenyl saponins were stronger than that of pennogenyl glycosides. Conclusions: These results provided information about the hemolysis and cytotoxicity of Paris steroidal saponins, which may be useful for their synthesis devoid of hemolysis toxicity. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.