Fameera Madaka, Chatchai Wattanapiromsakul, Teeratad Sudsai, and Supinya Tewtrakul

pp. 197 - 201

Abstract

Boesenbergia thorelii extract of rhizomes and its compounds were investigated for anti-allergic activities using
antigen-induced β-hexosaminidase release in RBL-2H3 cells. From bioassay-guided fractionation, the chloroform fraction was
separated to afford four compounds: asaronaldehyde (1), β-sitosterol-D-glucoside (2), protocatechuic acid methyl ester (3)
and 2-hydroxy-1-(3, 4-dimethoxyphenyl) ethanols (4). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of UV, IR and NMR
spectroscopic data. Of these, compound 1 (asaronaldehyde) was the most active with an IC₅₀ value of 24.3 µM, followed by
2 (IC₅₀ = 63.3 µM) and 4 (IC₅₀ = 72.6 µM); whereas compound 3 was inactive (IC₅₀ > 100 µM). Anti-allergic effect of 1 (IC₅₀ =
24.3 µM) was higher than that of ketotifen fumarate (IC₅₀ = 41.1 µM), the positive control. This study may support the use
of B. thorelii for treatment of allergy-related diseases. Moreover, this is the first report on biological study and chemical
constituents of B. thorelii.