Identification of rosmarinic acid as the major active constituent in Cordia americana.

Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Preparation from leaves of Cordia americana have been widely used in traditional medicine in South Brazil to treat wounds and various inflammations. Aim of the study The objective of this work was to identify the effective compounds in the ethanolic extract prepared from the leaves of Cordia americana , which is used in traditional South Brazilian medicine as anti-inflammatory and wound healing remedy. Materials and methods Isolation and structure elucidation techniques were performed in order to identify the compounds of Cordia americana and HPLC analysis was used for the quantification. The major constituent and the ethanolic extract were investigated for inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase, p38α MAPK, TNFα release and NF-κB as well as in the fibroblast scratch assay. Results Rosmarinic acid ( 1 ) was identified as the major compound with an amount of 8.44% in the ethanolic extract of the leaves of Cordia americana . The ethanolic extract as well as ( 1 ) exhibited the highest inhibitory effects on 5-lipoxygenase (IC 50  = 0.69 and 0.97 μg/mL, resp., IC 50 of BWA4C as reference: 0.3 μM) and p38α (IC 50  = 3.25 and 1.16 μg/mL, resp., IC 50 of SB203580 as reference: 0.046 μM) and moderate inhibitory effects on TNFα release. Slight effects were observed in the fibroblast scratch assay. Conclusions This study increases our knowledge on the effective compound in Cordia americana and supports its use in traditional medicine. We demonstrated for the first time pharmacological effects of Cordia americana and we provide evidences for a crucial role of rosmarinic acid as the major key player.