Analysis of alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitors from Desmodium styracifolium using centrifugal ultrafiltration coupled with HPLC-MS

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) inhibitors play an important role in the treatment of human methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning and the suppression of acetaldehyde accumulation in alcoholics. In this study, centrifugal ultrafiltration coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was utilized to screen and identify ADH inhibitors from ethyl acetate extract of Desmosium styracifolium (Osb.) Merr. The experiment conditions of centrifugal ultrafiltration were optimized. At the optimum conditions (ADH concentration: 37.5 ?g mL-1, incubation time: 90 min, pH: 7.0 and temperature: 15?C), formononetin and aromadendrin were successfully screened and identified from ethyl acetate extract of Desmodium styracifolium. The screening result was verified by ADH inhibition assays. The IC50 values of formononetin and aromadendrin were 70.8 and 84.7 ?g mL-1, which were accorded with the binding degrees of them. Aromadendrin was first reported to have inhibitory activity on ADH. This method provided an effective way to screen active compounds from natural products.