Composition and biological activity of different extracts from Schisandra sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis

Plants of the Schisandraceae family contain a variety of pharmacologically active lignans like schizandrin, deoxyschizandrin, deangeloylgomisin B, gomisin A, gomisin O, gamma-schizandrin and isogomisin O. Here we have compared the composition of different polar and non-polar extracts of Schisandra sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis. We also have screened the extracts for anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory effects in different cell-based and cell-free assays. Extracts produced with the non-polar solvents CO2, hexane and CO2/5% ethanol had a similar composition. In contrast, polar extraction with ethanol provided a considerably higher yield, but a lower content of volatiles and lignans in comparison to the non-polar extracts. The proliferation of the epidermal cell lines HaCaT and A431 was dose-dependently inhibited by both the Schisandra sphenanthera and Schisandra chinensis extracts, the non-polar extracts being superior to the polar ones. The non-polar Schisandra sphenanthera extract was the most active with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 20 mu g/mL. In a cell-free enzyme inhibition assay with recombinant cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) the non-polar Schisandra sphenanthera extract dose-dependently inhibited COX-2 catalysed prostaglandin (PG) production (IC50 = 0.2 mu g/mL). It also reduced the ultraviolet-B (UVB)-induced PGE(2) production (IC50 = 4 mu g/mL) and COX-2 expression in HaCaT keratinocytes. We conclude that non-polar Schisandra extracts obtained by CO2 extraction might be useful in the prevention and treatment of hyperproliferative and inflammatory skin diseases.