Chemical profiling and arginine kinase inhibitory activity of Angelica dahurica leaves

Angelica dahurica is a medicinal herb of the Umbelliferae family. The dried root of A. dahurica, also known as Angelicae dahuricae Radix is widely used in clinical treatment. However, the aboveground part of A. dahurica which accounted for over 70% of the total plant was abandoned in the field. In order to develop the value of the aboveground part of A. dahurica, the chemical constituents and arginine kinase (AK) inhibitory activity of A. dahurica leaves were studied. 85 volatile components were identified from A. dahurica leaves by GC-MS; 39 non-volatile components including sugars, amino acids and organic acids were identified by pre-column derivatization GC-MS analysis; and 7 coumarins were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by HPLC. Then, an inhibitory enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iEIA) was applied for evaluation of AK inhibitory activity. The extracts of A. dahurica leaves exhibited well inhibitory effects on AK. Further, potential AK inhibitors were screened by grey relational analysis and their inhibitory activities were validated by iEIA. l-aspartic acid exhibited strongest inhibitory effect on AK with its IC50 values was 0.558 mM, which was much lower than that of chlorpheniramine (6.644 mM). The obtained chemical profiles displayed chemical diversity of A. dahurica leaves and will provide data support for the future development and utilization of A. dahurica leaves. The screened potential AK inhibitors from A. dahurica leaves could be candidates for development of antiallergic substances or insecticides.