CHOLESTEROL LOWERING PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITION
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel pharmaceutical composition useful in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerosis or promoting lipid metabolism in mamrηals.
Description of the Prior Art
Cholesterol is a component of animal cell membrane and an important lipid as precusors of bile acid, steroid hormone, vitamin D, etc.
However, excessive cholesterol in blood causes sclerosis of the arteries in which cholesterol forms a deposit of plaque on the inner lining of arteries.
As blood cholesterol levels become higher, the incidence of coronary atherosclerosis also rises and, due to this, the potential for diseases such as myocardial infarction or cerebral apoplexy is increased.
Cholesterol level in body is defined as the combination of exogenous cholesterol taken in from outside, endogenous cholesterol biosynthesized in the body, and bile acids discharged into the stool and urine. The ratio of exogenous holesterol to endogenous cholesterol is about 3: 1. That is, the quantity of cholesterol synthesized in the body is even greater than that of cholesterol taken in from outside and much of such endogenous cholesterol is biosynthesized in the liver.
The drug for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia or
atherosclerosis includes internal uptake inhibitor (Cholestyramin), lipid metabolism promotor (Heparin) and cholesterol biosynthesis inhibitor (Lovastatin). However, it has been known that such dnigs have side effects, such as liver or kidney disturbance, cholelithiasis, dyspepsia, etc.
Therefore, there is always a need to develop new drugs useful in treating or preventing hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerosis in mammals.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a novel pharmaceutical composition useful in preventing or treating hypercholesterolemia or atherosclerosis or promoting lipid metabolism in mammals which comprises an effective amount of a pentagalloylglucose compound having the following structure:
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The 1,2,3,4,6-O-pentagalloylglucose compound of the present invention is isolated from Paeonia mσirfan SIM., Paeoniaceae. This medicinal plant is known to exhibit pharmacological actions such as antiinflammation, thrombocyte agglutinati, anti hemorrhage, analgesia, antiparalysis, gastric secretion, antibacterial action, etc, but there are no reports suggesting cholesterol lowering action thereof.
The present pentagalloylglucose compound can be orally administered, injected or infused in single or, preferably, in combination with conventional pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, adjuvants or additives. For example, the present compound may be formulated into tablet, solution, capsule, granule, particle, powder, injection, etc.
The carrier for oral formulation includes, for example, starch, mannitol, crystalline cellulose, CMC Na, water, ethanol, etc. The carrier for injection includes water, physiological saline solution, glucose solution, and other conventionally used solutions.
The method for isolating the pentagalloylglucose compound of the present invention and the cholesterol lowering actions thereof will be described in detail below.
Isolation of the present pentagalloylglucose compound
The dry powder of Paeonia woulan SIM. was extracted in 80% methanol solution at the temperature of 70 °C for 3 hours. The methanol was removed from the resulting extracts under reduced
pressure and the further extraction was carried out using n-butanol. The resulting extracts was chromatographed on silica gel, eluting with n-hexane and ethanol to yield active fraction which was then run on high performance liquid chromatography column to isolate the 1,2,3,4,6-O-pentagalloylglucose compound (C )H32O26, MW 940.70).
Inhibitory Action on Choi esterol Biosynthesis
Inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis by varied concentrations of the test pentagalloylglucose compounds as shown in Table I below was measured by a liquid scintillation method.
The test compound was added to 0.1 mM potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, comprising rat liver microsome fraction (containing 0.1 mg of proteins), rat liver cytosol fraction (containing 0.1 mg of proteins), 1 mM
ATP, 6 mM glutathione, M glucose- 1 -phosphate, 0.04 mM CoA, 0.25 M NAD, 0.25 M NADP and 0.2 M [1-I4C] sodium acetate to prepare 100 μl of reaction mixture. After the reaction mixture was incubated at 37T for 2 hours, the reaction was stopped by the addition of 250 μl of 15% potassium hydroxide (95% ethanol solution). The reaction mixture was saponified at 75 °C for 1 hour and 250 μl of distilled water and 500 μl of petroleum ether were then added to extract the cholesterol. The extracted cholesterol was concentrated and dried to obtain a residue whose radiation activity was then measured using a liquid scintillation counter.
A control was also prepared and measured with the same manner as described above but not using any test compounds.
The cholesterol biosynthesis inhibiting effect of the test compound was determined as inhibition percentage using the following equation:
Inhibition percentage
Radiation activity of control — Radiation activity of test compound
X 100
Radiation activity of control
The results are indicated in Table I below.
Table I Inhibitory action of the pentagalloylglucose compound on cholesterol biosynthesis
Inhibitory Action on Squalene J3iosynthesis
The test compound was added to 0 1 M potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.4, comprising rat liver microsome fraction (containing 0.05 mg of proteins), 5 mM potassium chloride, 10 mM potassium fluoride, 1 mM
NADPH, 30 mM nicotinamide, 001 mM tolnaftate and 0.01 mM [1-1H] ammonium farnesylpyrophosphate to prepare 100 μl of reaction mixture. After the reaction mixture was incubated at 37 °C for 2 hours, the reaction was stopped by the addition of 400 μl of 20% sodium hydroxide (95% ethanol solution). The reaction mixture was saponified at 75 °C for 30 minutes and 200 μl of distilled water and 500 μl of petroleum ether were then added to extract the squalene. The extracted squalene was concentrated and dried to obtain a residue. The residue was dissolved in a small amount of
chloroform and the resulting solution was thin layer chromatographed over silica gel, developing with chloroform, to isolate the squalene whose radiation activity was then measured using a liquid scintillation counter.
A control was also prepared and measured in the same manner as described above but not using any test compounds.
The squalene biosynthesis inhibiting effect of the test compound was determined as inhibition percentage using the following equation:
Inhibition percentage =
Radiation activity of control - Radiation activity of test compound X 100
Radiation activity of control
The results are indicated in Table I below.
Table I
Inhibitory effect of pentagalloylglucose compound on squalene biosynthesis
Action to lower serum cholesterol level In hypercholesterolemic hamster
Four groups of male hamster (syrian golden), weighing 120 ± 5g
and 10 to 12 weeks old, each group consisting of six hamsters, were raised for a period of two weeks, light of 12 hours and darkness of 12 hours everyday, in a rat house with temperature of 25 ! 1 °C and humidity of 55 ± 5%. Water and feed were supplied unlimitedly during that period.
After the preliminary raising period of 12 weeks, group A was supplied with conventional solid rat feeds for ten days and was orally administered with 0.2% aqueous methylcellulose solution once each day. Group B was supplied with high cholesterol level solid feeds and was orally administered with 0.2% aqueous methylcellulose solution once each day, group C was supplied with high cholesterol level solid feeds and orally administered with a solution of pentagalloylglucose compound (100 mg/kg of rat weight/5ml) in 0.2% methylcellulose, and group D was supplied with high cholesterol level solid feeds and orally administered with a solution of pentagalloylglucose compound (300 mg kg of rat weight/5ml) in 0.2% methylcellulose. On day 1 1 the feeding was stopped and the rats were killed. After bloods were collected from the dead rats and serum was separated, levels of triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (TC) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured using Blood
Biochemistry Autoanalyzer (manufactured by Ciba-corning). The serum 2 low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level was calculated by the following equation:
LDL-C = Total TC - (TG/5 + HDL-C)
The results are indicated in Table II below.
Table II Inhibitory action of pentagalloylglucose compound on blood cholesterol levels in hypercholesterolemic hamster
* The values in parenthesis indicate percentages of Group B.
Action to Lower Serum Cholesterol Level in Healthy Hamster
Three groups of male hamster (syrian golden), weighing 120 ± 5 g and 10 to 12 weeks old, each group consisting of six individuals, were raised for a period of two weeks, 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night everyday, in spearate rat houses with temperature of 25 ± 1 "C and humidity of 55 ± 5%. Water and feed were supplied unlimitedly during that period.
After the preliminary raising period of 12 weeks, groups A, B and C were supplied with conventional solid rat feeds for ten days. Once each day during that period, group A was orally administered with 0.2% aqueous methylcellulose solution, group B was orally administered with a solution of pentagalloyl glucose compound (30 mg/kg of rat weight 5ml) in 0.2% methylcellulose, and group C was orally administered with a solution of lobastatin (30 mg/kg of rat weight/5ml) in 0.2% methylcellulose. On day 1 1 the feeding was stopped and the rats were killed. After bloods were collected from the dead rats and serum was separated, levels of triglyceride (TG), cholesterol (TC) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured using
Blood Biochemistry Autoanalyzer (manufactured by Ciba-corning). The serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level was calculated by the following equation:
LDL-C = Total TC - (TG/5 + HDL-C)
The results are indicated in Table HI below.
Table III
Inhibitory action of pentagalloyl glucose compound on blood cholesterol levels of healthy hamster
The values in parenthesis indicate percentages of Group B.