Abstract

Flavonoids are major active ingredient in corn silk (CS) and possess various pharmacological activities. In this study, microporous resin adsorption technology was used for obtaining purified flavonoids from corn silk (FCS) and its anti-fatigue activity was evaluated. Eight kinds of macroporous resins with different properties were tested through static adsorption and one macroporous resin labeled as AB-8 was selected. Some important parameters were optimized for most effective enrichment and preparative separation. As follows: 1. for adsorption: sample solution FCS concentration was 2.636 mg/mL; processing volume was 4 BV; flow rate was 2 BV/h; temperature was 25°C; 2. for desorption: elution solvent ethanol-water (90%, v/v) solution was 4BV; flow rate was 1.0 BV/h. Flavonoids with content of 63.15% was obtained with a flavonoid recovery of 94.27% in the purification process. The results showed that AB-8 resin revealed a good ability to purify FCS. Swimming exercise results indicated that FCS had anti-fatigue activity of mice by inhibiting the production of blood lactic acid, retarding the formation of BUN and increasing hepatic glycogen concentration.

Key words: Macroporous resins, purification, anti-fatigue activity, corn silk.