Quinic acid derivatives from Saussurea triangulata attenuates glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in primary cultured rat cortical cells

The leaves of Saussurea triangulata (Compositae) have been eaten with rice as a wrapping vegetable for preventing neuro-aging. However, the components responsible for the neuroprotective effects of S. triangulata still remain unidentified. In the process of investigating the neuroprotective activity of S. triangulata, we found that a methanol extract of S. triangulata exhibited significant protection against glutamate-induced toxicity in primary cultured rat cortical cells. Three quinic acid derivatives were isolated from the n-BuOH fraction of S. triangulata. Among these three quinic acid derivatives, methyl 5-caffeoylquinic acid (3) exhibited significant neuroprotective activities against glutamate-induced toxicity exhibiting cell viability of about 50%, at concentrations ranging from 0.1 microM to 10 microM. Therefore, the neuroprotective effect of S. triangulata might be due to the inhibition of glutamate-induced toxicity by the quinic acid derivatives from S. triangulata.