Simultaneous determination of two diterpenoids, continentalic acid and kaurenoic acid, in the water extract of Aralia continentalis and their wound-healing activity

Background: The roots of Aralia continentalis have been used in traditional Korean medicine to treat pain, lumbago, lameness, and rheumatism. Objective: Simultaneous determination of two diterpenoids; continentalic acid (CA) and kaurenoic acid, in the water extract of A. continentalis using the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was established for quality control, as well as evaluation of their wound-healing activity. Materials and Methods: The separation was conducted on YMC hydrosphere C18 column with isocratic elution of 65% acetonitrile. Furthermore, the isolated diterpenoids were screened for their wound-healing activity using keratinocytes (HaCaT cells). Results: The calibration curves were linear over the established range with R2 > 0.9999. The intraday and interday RSDs for each compound were 0.13%–0.89% and 0.14%–0.73%, respectively. The limits of detection and limits of quantification for the two tested diterpenoids were 0.0912, 0.0018 μg/μL, and 0.2764, 0.0056 μg/μL, respectively. In addition, the CA-treated groups showed accelerated wound closure compared to the control group. Conclusion: The HPLC method could be accomplished to the quality control and stable experiment for the preparations consisted of two diterpenoids. Compared to the control group, the CA-treated group showed that wound closure was accelerated, indicating its potential in promoting migration of skin cells which is the most important step of wound closure.