In vivo antidepressant activity of sesquiterpenes from the roots of Valeriana fauriei Brig

Antidepressant activity-guided fractionation of the MeOH extract of Valeriana fauriei Briq. roots resulted in the isolation of two new germacrane-type sesquiterpenes (1-2) in addition to seven known ones (3-9). Their structures were elucidated as 1 beta,10 alpha-dihydroxyl-8 alpha-acetoxyl-10 beta,11,11-trimethyl-4-formyl-bicyclogermacren-E-4(5)-ene (1), 1 beta-hydroxyl-8 alpha-acetoxyl-11,11-dmethyl-4-formyl-bicyclogermacren-E-4(5),10(14)-diene (2), bicyclo[8,1,0]5 beta-hydroxyl-7 beta-1acetoxyl-5 alpha,11,11'-trimethyl -E-1(10)-ene-4 alpha,15-olide (3), 8 alpha-acetoxyl-3 alpha,4 alpha,10-trihydroxylguaia-1 (2)-ene-12,6 alpha-olide (4), 2-Ethylhexyl-4-hydroxybenzoate (5), 11 alpha H-gemacra-1(10)E,4Z-diene-3-one-12,6 alpha-olide (6), beta-Sitoterol (7), isovaleric acid (8), isoborneol acetate (9), using a combination of UV, IR, mass spectroscopy, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. The antidepressant activity of compounds 1-4 was investigated by the FST on mice. Among them, compounds 3 and 4 showed the significant antidepressant activity (*, P<0.01). (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.