Chemical constituents with NO production inhibitory and cytotoxic activities from Litsea cubeba.

A bioassay-guided fractionation of the roots and stems of Litsea cubeba led to the isolation of 14 constituents, including three new compounds, cubebanone (1), N-cis-3,4-methylenedioxycinnamoyl-3-methoxytyramine (2), and 9,9'-O-di-(E)-feruloyl-(+)-secoisolariciresinol (3), together with 11 known ones (4-14). Compounds 1, 4, and 8-11 showed obvious in vitro anti-inflammatory activities against NO production in LPS-induced murine microglial (BV-2) cell line and RAW 264.7 macrophages. A cytotoxic evaluation showed that 2, 3, and 5-8 exhibited considerable inhibition against the growth of hepatocyte carcinoma (HepG2) cell line. These findings are evidence, to some extent, for the traditional medicinal application of L. cubeba, especially as folk medicine in the treatment of inflammation-related diseases.