High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the determination of lignans, eleutherosides B and E, in Acanthopanax sessiliflorus fruits and their fermented wine. The lignans were quantified by a reversed-phase system using a gradient of H2O and acetonitrile as a mobile phase within 20 min. The analysis was successfully carried out within 20 min. The contents of eleutherosides Band E as main active principles of Acanthopanax species were measured in A. sessiliflorus fruits (1.15 and 8.49 μg/mg, respectively), their fermented wine (0.45 and 1.33 μg/mg, respectively) and wine residues (no detection).

Two compounds from Gomisin N and Gomisin A were isolated from the fruits of Schizandra chinensis Baillon. The highest extraction yield as 21.36% was observed in the ethanol extract, compared to the yield obtained form the water extract. The extraction yields of the single compounds were measured to be 0.13 and 0.014 Gomisin A and Gomisin N, respectively. Approximately, 90% of the growth of human stomach adenocarcinoma cancer cells was inhibited after adding 1.0 g/l of the ethanol extract. The growth of the human normal lung cell was limited to 24% after adding the ethanol extract. The water extract lowered the specific secretion of TNF-á and IL-6 from T cells, 10.3×10-4 pg/cell and 12.1×10-4 pg/cell, respectively, compared to the ethanol extracts. On the other hand, a treatment with the ethanol extract increased the specific secretion of TNF-á and IL-6 from human T cells, to 11×10-4 pg/cell and 14.3×10-4 pg/cell, respectively. The crude ethanol extract had the highest effect on the differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells compared to the other extracts and Gomisin A and N. In general, the biological activities of the extracts gradually decreased as the purification process proceeded, which suggests that higher immunostimulatory activities can be maintained by adding the crude extracts of the fruits rather than by adding a single compound.