Determination and Isolation of Four Anti-tumour Saponins from Lonicera macranthoides by HPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS and HSCCC

Background: Lonicera macranthoides is a Chinese herb that contains a large number of bioactive spanions possessing important pharmacological activities, such as anti-tumour activity. However, detailed information about their anti-tumor activity and bioactive compounds is limited. Methods: In order to evaluate the scientific basis, the method of high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) combined with high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS) has been developed to separate, purify and analyze saponins from Lonicera macranthoides. Four main saponins, Macranthoidin B (I), Macranthoidin A (II), Macranthoides B (III) and Akebia saponin D (IV) were separated by HSCCC with the solvent systems of ethyl acetate-nbutanol- water (3:2:5) and n-butanol-water-methanol-ethyl acetate (1:6:0.5:4). The purities of these four bioactive ingredients (I-IV) identified and detected by HPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS were 95.1%, 92.7%, 91.8% and 96.3%, respectively. The separated saponins were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against six tumor cell lines (MCF-7, Hela, A549, HepG2, HT29 and Eca109). Results: Results show that compounds I-IV exhibited particular significant anti-tumor activities against human mammary adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell with IC50 values ranging from 12.7 to 30.8 μM. Conclusion: It was demonstrated that the combinative method using HPLC-ESI-QTOF/MS and HSCCC was suitable for rapid screening and isolating saponins of Lonicera macranthoides and the isolated compounds have great potential for the development of new antitumor drugs.