A new anti-inflammatory glucoside from Ficus racemosa L.

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the ethanol extract of Ficus racemosa resulted in the identification of a new compound (rel)-4,6-dihydroxy-5-[3-methyl-(E)-propenoic acid-3-yl]-7-beta-glucopyranosyl-[2alpha,3beta-dihydrobenzofuran]-(3,2: b)-[4alpha,5beta-dihydroxy-6alpha-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyran] (racemosic acid). Racemosic acid showed potent inhibitory activity against COX-1 and 5-LOX in vitro with IC50 values of 90 and 18 microM, respectively. Racemosic acid also demonstrated a strong antioxidant activity to scavenge ABTS free radical cations with an IC50 value of 19 microM. In addition, cytotoxic effects of the extracts of F. racemosa were investigated in vitro using the ATP-based luminescence assay and results showed no cytotoxicity on the cell lines skin fibroblasts (1BR3), human Caucasian hepatocyte carcinoma (Hep G2) and human Caucasian promyelocytic leukaemia (HL-60). Bergenin was also isolated from the same active fraction.