Phenolic Compounds Isolated from Juncus decipiens and Their Effects on Osteoblast Differentiation in the Mouse Mesenchymal Stem Cell Line C3H10T1/2

As part of our current projects to discover biologically active compounds from natural sources, we conducted a phytochemical investigation of Juncus decipiens, a species generally distributed throughout Korea. J. decipiens has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to control diuresis for strangury and clear out heart fire. The phytochemical investigation of the EtOH extract of J. decipiens led to the isolation of five phenolic compounds (1–5) via semi-preparative HPLC purification. The chemical structures of the isolated compounds were identified as isosaponarin (1), isovitexin 7,2′′-di-O-glucoside (2), 4-O-feruloylquinic acid (3), 5-O-feruloylquinic acid (4), and 3-O-caffeoylquinic acid (5) based on comparisons of their spectroscopic and physical properties with those reported in previous studies. Notably, this is the first report of the presence of compounds (1–4) in J. decipiens. Then, compounds 1–5 were tested to determine their effects on osteogenesis and adipogenesis in the mouse mesenchymal stem cell line C3H10T1/2. We found that quinic acid derivatives (3–5) promoted the osteogenic differentiation of stem cells. These findings demonstrate that the bioactive quinic acid derivatives might be effective for the treatment of menopause-associated syndromes, such as osteoporosis, as the isolated compounds were shown to promote osteogenesis of stem cells.