| Rhizomes of Curcuma comosa Roxb. have been widely used in traditional Thai medicines as a hormonal replacement therapy in postmenopausal women. Up to date, there is no any diarylheptanoids recommended as the chemical markers for quality assessment of the plant. Objective= To apply the statistic-based extraction method for isolation of the diarylheptanoids and use the resulting compounds as chemical markers of the plant. Materials and methods= A 23-factorial, 6-axial, 6-center central composite design was applied to construct the mathematical model and predict the optimal extraction conditions. Effectiveness of the extraction method was compared to that of a classical sohxlation. The major diarylheptanoids were isolated from the crude extract and chemical structures were confirmed spectroscopically. The molecular docking study was evaluated for binding affinity of the resulting diarylheptanoids in the binding pocket of estrogen receptor-a and β. The resulting pure diarylheptanoids were applied in quality assessment of the plant. Results= The optimal conditions were 45 kHz, 1=32 g/mL solid to liquid (ethyl acetate), 65°C, and 16 min irradiation time. The resulting (3R, 5R)-1-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-7-phenyl-heptane-3,5-diol (DA1), (4E,6E)-1,7-diphenylheptan-4,6-dien-3-diol (DA2), and (6E)-1,7-diphenylhept-6-en-3-diol (DA3) could bind ER-a and β with low binding energy values compared to the reference ligands. Heptyl chain was the important part to provide the ligand flexibility in the binding pocket of ER. Validity of the analytical method was checked and those were in accord with the ICH guidelines that could be applied for quality assessment of the plant materials and some pharmaceutical products. Conclusions= Owing to the major constituents, ability of the selected diarylheptanoids to bind ER, and the information from literature, it is possible to isolate them by the proposed method as the chemical markers for C. comosa standardization which is useful for the pharmaceutical industry. |