Lignans in the seeds and fruits of Schisandra chinensis cultured in Europe.

The fruits of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (Schisandraceae/Magnoliaceae) are a traditional Oriental medicine possessing adaptogenic and hepatoprotective activities. The lignan content in seeds and fruits of the species cultured in various European locations has been investigated. The lignans were extracted from 17 samples of the seeds with supercritical CO2 and the major components--schizandrin (1), gomisin A (2), de-oxyschizandrin (3), gomisin N (4), and wuweizisu C (5)--were quantified by HPLC. Compounds 1-5 were present in the seeds in the range 0.75-1.86, 0.13-0.90, 0.07-1.09, 0.24-1.49, and 0.01 -0.34 %, respectively. It was found that the plants cultivated in Europe accumulated comparable amounts of lignans as those of the natural distribution range.