Isolation and evaluation of the myorelaxant effect of bergapten on isolated rat jejunum

AbstractContext: Plants of the genus Heracleum L. (Apiaceae) have a long history of being used in traditional medicines for the treatment of alimentary tract disorders, and these biological effects have been ascribed to the presence of furanocoumarins (including bergapten).Objectives: This study aimed to develop an efficient, preparative, counter-current chromatographic separation of bergapten in order to characterize its spasmolytic activity in isolated rat jejunum strips.Materials and methods: Successful separation of the dichloromethane extract of the fruits of Heracleum leskovii Grossh. was achieved by high-performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC) using a two-phase solvent system composed of n-heptane/EtOAc/MeOH/H2O (6:5:6:5, v/v/v/v). The pharmacological assessment of bergapten (0.0001–50 μM) on jejunum smooth muscle strips isolated from rats was conducted under isotonic conditions, following up to three hours of incubation.Results: The separation method was scaled up six-fold from analytica...