Determination of flavonoids in Acer okamotoanum and their aldose reductase inhibitory activities

Abstract

Plants in the genus Acer include medicinal plants and deciduous tree species in which several bioactive compounds have been isolated. In this study, flavonoids were isolated from the aerial parts of Acer okamotoanum by open column chromatography and identified by spectroscopic analysis as afzelin, quercitrin, and isoquercitrin. Among these flavonoids, quercitrin and isoquercitrin exhibited potent aldose reductase inhibitory activity (IC50 value of 0.40 and 0.63 mu M, respectively). Almost all studied tissues of Acer spp. contained high amounts of quercitrin. The leaf of A. mono had the highest amount of quercitrin (61.90 mu g g(-1)). Our results demonstrated that Acer species contain high concentrations of flavonoids with promising aldose reductase inhibitory activity that could be utilized to develop novel therapeutics for diabetic disorders.