Protective effect of lignans against sepsis from the roots of Saururus chinensis.

In the course of isolating preventive agents from sepsis based on the in vivo assay model from the EtOAc extract of the roots of Saururus chinensis, twelve lignans, sarisan (1), erythro-austrobailignan-6 (2), meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid (3), saucerneol B (4), manassantin B (5), manassantin A (6), rel-(8R,8'R)-dimethyl-(7S,7'R)-bis(3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl)tetrahydro-furan (7), (+)-saururinone (8), sauchinone (9), sauchinone B (10), nectandrin B (11) and machilin D (12), were isolated. Compounds 9 and 10, at a dose of 10 mg/kg, increased survival rates to 80% from 20% for the control experiment, and decreased the plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in mice administered LPS/D-GalN.