干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Ammopiptanthus mongolicus (Leguminosae) and Tetraena mongolica (Zygophyllaceae) are distinctively distributed in the northwestern Gobi and desert areas of China. Their environments involve seasonally extreme drought and temperatures, extraordinarily high UV radiation and poor soil qualities with high salinity. Ammopiptanthus mongolicus remains evergreen for all four seasons and has been traditionally used as anti-inflammatory, anti-infectious and pain-killing medicines. All the extracts prepared from the two species exhibited significantly higher scavenging activities against the .O-2(-) than a control. Five selected extracts also showed wider spectra of antioxidative capacities. An activity-guided fractionation led to identification of four major compounds. Resveratrol, a super strong antioxidant, accounted for as high as 0.05% of the dried weight of A. mongolicus. Two isoflavones isolated are also reported to be antioxidative and antiinflammatory. Our results imply that plant species living in the extremely stressful environments may become an abundant natural resource of strong antioxidants. Considering the fact that oxidation is involved in the processes of infections, inflammation and other disorders, these results collectively suggest that efficacies of A. mongolicus in treating infections, inflammatory disorders and in killing pains may be attributed, at least partly, to its significantly larger non-enzymatic antioxidative capacities.