Natural products have served as primary remedies since ancient times due to their cultural acceptance and outstanding biodiversity. To investigate whether Tamarix aphylla L. modulates an inflammatory process, we carried out bioassay-guided isolation where the extracts and isolated compounds were tested for their modulatory effects on several inflammatory indicators, such as nitric oxide (NO), reactive oxygen species (ROS), proinflammatory cytokine; tumour necrosis factor (TNF-α), as well as the proliferation of the lymphocyte T-cells. The aqueous ethanolic extract of the plant inhibited the intracellular ROS production, NO generation, and T-cell proliferation. The aqueous ethanolic crude extract was partitioned by liquid-liquid fractionation using n-hexane (n-C6H6), dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol (n-BuOH), and water (H2O). The DCM and n-BuOH extracts showed the highest activity against most inflammatory indicators and were further purified to obtain compounds 1–4. The structures of 3,5-dihydroxy-4’,7-dimethoxyflavone (1) and 3,5-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzoic acid methyl ester (2) from the DCM extracts; and kaempferol (3), and 3-hydroxy-4-methoxy-(E)-cinnamic acid (4) from the n-BuOH extract were elucidated by different spectroscopic tools, including MS, NMR, UV, and IR. Compound 2 inhibited the production of ROS and TNF-α, whereas compound 3 showed inhibitory activity against all the tested mediators. A better understanding of the potential aspect of Tamarix aphylla L. derivatives as anti-inflammatory agents could open the door for the development of advanced anti-inflammatory entities.

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柽柳的抗炎原理：生物测定引导的分级研究

由于其文化接受度和出色的生物多样性，天然产品自古以来就被用作主要疗法。为了研究 Tamarix aphylla L. 是否调节炎症过程，我们进行了生物测定引导的分离，其中测试了提取物和分离的化合物对几种炎症指标的调节作用，如一氧化氮 (NO)、活性氧 (ROS) ，促炎细胞因子；肿瘤坏死因子 (TNF-α) 以及淋巴细胞 T 细胞的增殖。植物的含水乙醇提取物抑制细胞内 ROS 的产生、NO 的产生和 T 细胞增殖。通过使用正己烷(n-C6H6)、二氯甲烷(DCM)、乙酸乙酯(EtOAc)、正丁醇(n-BuOH)和水(H2O)的液-液分馏来分配含水乙醇粗提取物。DCM 和 n-BuOH 提取物对大多数炎症指标显示出最高的活性，并进一步纯化以获得化合物 1-4。DCM提取物中3,5-二羟基-4',7-二甲氧基黄酮(1)和3,5-二羟基-4-甲氧基苯甲酸甲酯(2)的结构；正丁醇提取物中的山奈酚 (3) 和 3-羟基-4-甲氧基-(E)-肉桂酸 (4) 通过不同的光谱工具进行了阐明，包括 MS、NMR、UV 和 IR。化合物 2 抑制 ROS 和 TNF-α 的产生，而化合物 3 对所有测试介质均显示出抑制活性。更好地了解柽柳衍生物作为抗炎剂的潜在方面可以为高级抗炎实体的发展打开大门。