Physiological Functionalities of Solvent Fractions Isolated from Crataegi Fructus

Abstract

In this study we investigated the biological activities of Crataegi Fructus, including antioxidative, fibrinolytic, $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitory, and thrombin inhibitory activities. Crataegi Fructus, hot water extract was fractionated into hexane, $CHCLl_3$, ethyl acetate, butanol, and water fractions, and each of these was assayed individually. The water fraction showed the highest extraction yield at 4.08% (w/w). The antioxidative activities of the water, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions were 31.07%, 45.87%, 50.28%, and 91.74%, respectively. Assays for fibrinolytic activity indicated that only the butanol fraction has significant efficacy at 1.93 plasmin units/ml. Thrombin inhibitory assays indicated that the 10-fold dilutions of the $CHCLl_3$, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions had inhibitory activities of 34.97%, 41.43%, and 58.10%, respectively. The 10-fold dilutions of the only ethyl acetate fraction demonstrated $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitory activities of 75.07%. From the above results, we propose that extracts of Crataegi Fructus can be used as a material for the development of biofunctional foods.

Keywords

• Antioxidative activity;
• Crataegi Fructus;
• Fibrinolytic activity;
• $\alpha$-Glucosidase inhibitory activity;
• Thrombin inhibitory activity