Chemical profile, anti-hepatoma activity, anti-acetylcholinesterase and antioxidant activity of aerial part of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx

Five extracts of the aerial parts of Aconitum carmichaeli were obtained by different solvent extraction or macroporous adsorption resin purification: ethyl acetate layer extract (EAE), n-butanol layer extract (BuE), water layer extract (WE), extract eluted by 10% ethanol from macroporous resin (10%EE), extract eluted by 80% ethanol from macroporous resin (80%EE). Antioxidant activities of the five extracts were determined by ABTS, DPPH, FRAP assays, anti-AChE activities by modified Ellman's method, in vitro anti-hepatoma activities by CCK-8 assay, and chemical constituents of 80%EE were identified by UPLC-QE-Orbitrap-MS. The results demonstrated that the 80%EE showed the best in vitro anti-hepatoma activity on Huh-7 cell line with an IC50 of 103.91 ± 11.02 μg/mL. 10%EE and 80%EE gave the highest antioxidant activity. Furthermore, current findings demonstrated that the aerial part of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx. has high medicinal value and may be a good natural medicine.