[Screening and identifying of hepatoprotective compounds in paeoniae radix rubra].

To establish a new rapid method to screen potential hepatoprotective compounds from traditional Chinese medicine, and identify the hepatoprotective compounds in Paeoniae Radix Rubra. Fluorescein diacetate labelled and MTT assay were applied for screening the hepatoprotective fractions on HepG2 cells exposed to galactosamine. The active fractions were analyzed by chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Finally, the hepatoprotective effects of the identified compounds were validated by hepatoprotective assay. Three hepatoprotective fractions were founded, in which three compounds were identified as paeoniflorin, ethyl palmitate and ethyl linoleate. Validation results indicated that all the three compounds can attenuate the galactosamine induced injury on HepG2 cells. Paeoniflorin, ethyl palmitate and ethyl linoleate from paeoniae radix rubra showed potential hepatoprotective activity.