BACKGROUND Platycodon grandiflorum is the only species in the genus Platycodon of the family Campanulaceae, which has been traditionally used as a medicinal plant for its lung-heat-clearing, antitussive, and expectorant properties in China, Japanese, and Korean. Oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins were the main chemical components of P. grandiflorum and platycodin D was the abundant and main bi...

Five new oleanane-type saponins, named ligushicosides A-E, and three known oleanane-type saponins were isolated from the roots of Ligulariopsis shichuana. Their structures were established by a combination of spectroscopic techniques, including 1D and 2D NMR and high resolution electrospray ionization mass spectroscopy (HR-ESI-MS). Furthermore, all isolates were evaluated for their yeast α-gluc...

Saponins are a structurally diverse class of compounds occurring in many plant species, which are characterized by a skeleton derived of the 30-carbon precursor oxidosqualene to which glycosyl residues are attached. Traditionally, they are subdivided into triterpenoid and steroid glycosides, or into triterpenoid, spirostanol, and furostanol saponins. In this study, the structures of saponins ar...

Seven new dammarane-type triterpenoid saponins, chikusetsusaponin FK1 (1), chikusetsusaponin FK2 (2), chikusetsusaponin FK3 (3), chikusetsusaponin FK4 (4), chikusetsusaponin FK5 (5), chikusetsusaponin FK6 (6), and chikusetsusaponin FK7 (7), and eleven known triterpenoid saponins, ginsenoside Rb3 (9), ginsenoside Rc (10), chikusetsusaponin VI (11), ginsenoside Re (12), ginsenoside Rg1 (13), pseu...

Two new cycloartane-type triterpenoid saponins were isolated from the roots of Astragalus membranaceus (FISCH.) BGE. (Leguminosae) cultivated in Kangwon province, Korea. These saponins were named astramembranosides A and B and were established to be cycloastragenol 6,25-di-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (astramembranoside A) and cyclocanthogenin 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl(1-->2)-beta-D-xylopyranoside ...

Saponin is the generic name of steroid or triterpene glycosides, and the capacities of some saponins to stimulate both Th1 immune response and production of cytotoxic T cells are useful as vaccine components against intracellular pathogens. Because saponins have been found commonly in starfish, we assessed the potential of starfish, Asterias amurensis and Asterina pectinifera, as adjuvant sourc...

Pulsatilla koreana, a species endemic to Korea, is an important herb used in traditional medicine to treat amoebic dysentery and malaria. In the present study, 23 oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins 1-23 and eight lupane-type triterpenoid saponins 24-31 were isolated from the roots of P. koreana. Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. The methanol extract and isola...