Phytochemical Constituents of the Root Bark from Morus alba and Their Il-6 Inhibitory Activity

Morus alba L., known as white mulberry, is a medicinal plant belongs to family Moraceae. It has long been used commonly in Ayurvedic for the treatment of lung-heat, cough, asthma, hematemesis, dropsy and hypertension. In the present study, seven prenylated flavonoids, along with four benzofuran compounds were isolated by means of repeated column chromatography. The structures of the known compounds were identified as kuwanon G (1), kuwanon E (2), kuwanon T (3), morusin (4), sanggenon A (5), sanggenon M (6), sanggenol A (7), moracin R (8), mulberofuran G (9), mulberofuran A (10) and mulberofuran B (11), by comparing their spectroscopic data with those reported in the literature. For these isolates, containing trace compounds, the inhibitory activity against IL-6 production in $TNF-{\alpha}$ stimulated MG-63 cells was examined. All isolated compounds (1 - 11) showed excellent inhibitory activity against IL-6 production in $TNF-{\alpha}$ stimulated MG-63 cells. Especially this study is first time to report that sanggenon A (5), sanggenon M (6), sanggenol A (7), mulberofuran G (9), mulberofuran A (10) and mulberofuran B (11) showed the inhibitory activity of IL-6 production. Our study suggested the possibility of anti-inflammatory regulation by compounds (1 - 11) isolated from M. alba.