Sagebrush was once widely used as herbal medicine by Native Americans and early settlers in the American West to prevent infections in wounds, stop internal bleeding and for treatment of headaches, body aches and colds. Medicinal properties may be due, in part, to compounds known as polyphenols which are among the hundreds of chemicals produced in sagebrush. Polyphenols from other plant sources are thought to serve as antioxidants in our diet and studies suggest polyphenols contribute to prevention of cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancers. However, the mechanism by which polyphenols affect human health is not clear. The purpose of this study was to devise a method for purification of sagebrush polyphenols for use in further testing of their medicinal properties. Chemicals were extracted from Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingenisis (Wyoming big sage brush). A purification protocol was devised using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) whereby solvents were optimized to increase separation of individual compounds. Purified polyphenols will be used in future studies of their medicinal properties, as a step toward preclinical drug development.

Purification of potential medicinal compounds from sagebrush