Isolation and Quantitative Analysis of BACE1 Inhibitory Compounds from Cirsium maackii Flower

The purpose of our study was to evaluate anti-AD potential of Cirsium maackii flowers. MeOH extract, CH₂Cl₂, EtOAc, and n-BuOH fraction of this flower notably inhibited BACE1 (IC₅₀ = 76.47 ± 1.66, 22.98 ± 1.45, 8.65 ± 0.63, and 72.47 ± 3.04 ㎍/mL, respectively). β-amyrenone (49.70 mg) (1), lupeol acetate (1.43 g) (2), lupeol (1.22 g) (3), lupenone (23.70 mg) (4), β-sitosterol (1.01 g) (6), and β-sitosterol glucoside (13.00 mg) (7) from CH₂Cl₂, apigenin (100.20 mg) (8), luteolin (19.00 mg) (9), apigenin 7-O-glucuronide methyl ester (21.30 mg) (14), and tracheloside (53.70 mg) (5) from EtOAc, apigenin 5-O-glucoside (11.00 mg) (10), luteolin 5-O-glucoside (11.00 mg) (11) and apigenin 7-O-glucuronide (91.00 mg) (12) from n-BuOH, and luteolin 7-O-glucuronide (22.00 mg) (13) from H₂O fraction were isolated. HPLC showed high levels of 8, 9 and 12 in MeOH extract (33.07 ± 0.07, 31. 44 ± 0.17 and 16.89 ± 0.33 mg/g, respectively), EtOAc (161.01 ± 1.78, 96.93 ± 0.34 and 73.38 ± 0.06 mg/g, respectively), and n-BuOH fraction (32.18 ± 0.33, 44.31 ± 0.32 and 105.94 ± 0.36 mg/g, respectively). Since, 3 and 9 are well-known BACE1 inhibitors, the anti-AD activity of C. maackii flower might be attributable to their presence.