Bioactive lignans and flavones with in vitro antioxidant and neuroprotective properties from Rubus idaeus rhizome

Rubus idaeus L. is caneberries from the genus Rubus that have been cultivated as food and herbal medicine, and is known to demonstrate strong antioxidant capability. In the present study, five new lignans, along with 13 known compounds, were isolated from ethanol extracts of R. idaeus rhizomes. An HPLC-MS/MS method was established and successfully applied to quantification of 14 compounds from leaves (LR), fruits (FR) and rhizomes (RR) of R. idaeus. All the compounds showed in vitro antioxidant activities, and three lignans revealed in vitro neuroprotective protective effects against H2O2-induced neurodegeneration in SH-SY5Y cells, the crude RR, LR and FR were found to have both in vitro antioxidant activities and neuroprotective effects.