Characterization of antihyperglycemic constituents and their cytotoxicity from the fruits of Rosa davurica Pall

Rosa davurica Pall. was an edible herb, mostly distributed in the north of China and Russia. The main aim of this research was to elucidate the chemical components of the fruits of R. davurica methanol extract (RdME) and investigate their antihyperglycemic effect in vivo. Using different chromatographic techniques, 27 compounds were purified from RdME and the structures of these components were determined by spectroscopic data analysis, including triterpenoids, flavonoids, steroids, aromatic glycosides and so on. Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in mice showed that the EtOAc fraction possessed the potent activity of decreasing the blood glucose, and ursolic acid, the main principle isolated from the fraction was the active compound. Notably, the antihyperglycemic activity of ursolic acid (75 mg/kg) was equivalent to that of gliclazide (100 mg/kg). However, all thirteen triterpenoids obtained from RdME had some cytotoxicity in T24 and HepG2 cells. This is the first study to fully elucidate the chemical constituents of the fruits of R. davurica and evaluate its antidiabetic effect in vivo. Although the antidiabetic mechanism of R. davurica had not been completely characterized, the results obtained in this present study will be helpful for further exploitation and utilization of the fruits of R. davurica .