To study the chemical constituents of Asarum himalaicum, fifteen compounds were isolated from a 70% ethanol extract by using a combination of various chromatographic techniques including column chromatography over silica gel, Sephadex LH-20, and semi-preparative HPLC. By spectroscopic techniques including 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HR-ESI-MS, these compounds were identified as 4-demethoxyaristolochic acid BII (1), aristolochic acid I (2), aristolochic acid Ia (3), 7-hydroxyaristolochic acid I (4), aristolochic acid IV (5), aristolic acid II (6), debilic acid (7), aristololactam I (8), 9-hydroxyaristololactam I (9), 7-methoxyaristololactam IV (10), (2S)-narigenin-5, 7-di-O-beta-D-pyranosylglucoside (11), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (12), 3, 4-dihydroxybenzoic acid (13), 4-hydroxycinnamic acid (14), and beta-sitosterol (15). All of these compounds (1-15) were obtained from A. himalaicum for the first time. Among them, 1 was identified as a new compound, and compounds 3-6, 9, 12-14 were isolated from Asarum genus for the first time. Since the kidney toxicity of aristolochic acids and aristololactams has been reported, the result of this investigation suggests that it should be cautioned to use A. himalaicum as a medicine.

Many species of the genus Asarum plants are used as Chinese traditional or folk medicines, in Chinese which are known as "Xixin" (Asari Radix et Rhizoma) , "Bei-Xixin" , "Hua-Xixin" and "Nan-Xixin" , etc. In order to get a clear picture of resources distribution and varieties on Chinese markets of the crude drug Xixin and provide scientific basis for their resource conservation and sustainable use, during recent years we conducted field investigations and market researches many times. The results showed that the resources of both official Xixins and non-official Xixins were decreased because of the ecological environment damage and over-digging, especially species whose population size was small. Bei-Xixin derived from A. heterotropoides var. mandshuricum was the most species on the Chinese markets except for a few areas of China. Hua-Xixin derived from A. sieboldii and non-official Xixins were mainly used in their producing areas. Cultivation of Hua-Xixin should be greatly developed, and wild resources of non-official species must be preserved strictly.
China ; Conservation of Natural Resources ; Data Collection ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; classification ; standards ; supply & distribution ; Quality Control