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-β-glucopyranosyl-{2α,3β-dihydrobenzofuran}-(3,2:b)-[4α,5β-dihydroxy-6α-hydroxymethyltetrahydropyran] (racemosic acid). Racemosic acid showed potent inhibitory activity against COX-1 and 5-LOX in vitro with IC₅₀ values of 90 and 18 μM, respectively. Racemosic acid also demonstrated a strong antioxidant activity to scavenge ABTS free radical cations with an IC₅₀ value of 19 μM. 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.