research results of the inventors showed that cryptotanshinone can react with ammonia under a mild condition to form new tanshinonic derivatives . cryptotanshinone can also initiate similar reactions with other toxic amines substance , such as phenylethylamine , in brain tissue . it suggests that this compound possesses the function of eliminating the blood ammonia at high concentration and the brain ammonia at high level . this shows that this compound can be used in treating hyperammonemia and high level brain ammonia and possesses unique function of preventing ad and treating early stage ad patients . the reaction formula is illustrated below : cryptotanshinone used in this invention can be isolated from traditional chinese medicine dan - shen by solvent extraction ; it can also be obtained through chemical synthesis method . the extraction method is generally used to achieve the compounds in the present invention considering the factors of cost etc . for the abundant resources of dan - shen . in the present invention , the inventors confirmed through chemical reaction experiments that cryptotanshinone could react with ammonia or amines to form tanshinone derivatives . it indicates that this compound can be used in lowering high concentration ammonia ( amines ) in blood and brain tissue . the present invention demonstrated through hyperammonemia animal models experiments that cryptotanshinone could effectively decrease blood ammonia concentration of hyperammonemia rat model . it indicates that cryptotanshinone can be applied as effective drug used in preventing and treating hyperammonemia , in preventing ad and treating early stage ad patients . through high - level brain ammonia animal model experiment , this invention confirmed that cryptotanshinone could effectively decrease ammonia concentration in rat &# 39 ; s brain tissue . it shows that cryptotanshinone can be used as an effective drug for preventing and treating high level brain ammonia , thereby preventing ad and treating early stage ad patients . the present invention demonstrates , through ad neuro - behavior experiments in animal models , that cryptotanshinone could effectively delay model rat &# 39 ; s injured neuro - behavior time and improve model rat &# 39 ; s injured neuro - behavior symptoms . it indicates that cryptotanshinone can be used as an effective drug for preventing ad and treating early stage ad patients . the present invention determined through toxicologic study in rats that cryptotanshinone is one kind of drug without toxic and adverse effects and can be used safely . the inventors found that the content of cryptotanshinone is highest in blood and brain tissue through metabolism experiments in rats . this indicates that cryptotanshinone can be easily absorbed and entered into blood circulation . since cryptotanshinone is liposoluble small molecular compound ( molecular weight 296 da ), it can pass blood - brain - barrier and enter into brain tissue easily . this feature of cryptotanshinone is the important reason of its roll as effective drugs in preventing and treating hyperammonemia and high brain tissue ammonia concentration situation , and in preventing ad and treating early stage ad patients ( m . p . william , crossing the blood - brain barrier : are we getting it right ? drug discovery today . 2001 . 6 . 1 ). drugs currently used in treating hyperammonemia are mainly lactulose , sodium glutamate and arginine [ drug ; wang rulong , yuan zhengping , chemistry industry publishing house , 3 rd edition ( 1999 ), 655 - 665 ], but they all have limitation as well as dissatisfactory treating effect . by now , there is no report on the drug which can pass blood - brain - barrier and eliminate high concentration ammonia in brain tissue with an excellent safety . dried dan - shen 1 kg was extracted 3 times 24 h each using 1500 ml 95 % alcohol , then vacuum concentrated to 500 ml , and added 500 ml water , then extracted 4 times using 1000 ml trichloromethane , then the extract was vacuum concentrated , and isolated through gradient elution by column chromatography , with silica gel of 100 - 200 mesh , and eluent as petroleum ether / acetic ester mixture containing 1 %- 50 % acetic ester . about 0 . 35 g cryptotanshinone obtained . 0 . 5 mmol ammonia and 30 ml water was added into a tube , and then added 0 . 5 mmol cryptotanshinone in 1 . 0 ml alcohol , and vibrated 0 . 5 - 3 h in 37 + 5 ° c ., then monitored by tlc and isolated by column chromatography , and obtained the products of cryptotanshinone and ammonia reaction as 1 - amino - 2 -( 1hydroxy - 2 - propyl )- 8 , 8 - dimethyl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydrophenanthrene - 3 , 4 - dione and 3 - amino - 2 -( 1 - hydroxy - 2 - propyl )- 8 , 8 - dimethyl - 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 - tetrahydro - phenanthrene - 1 , 4 - dione . structure of reaction products have already been confirmed by data of 13 c - 1 hnmr , ms and elements analysis . this indicates that cryptotanshinone can react with ammonia and lower its concentration in vitro . in vitro interaction of tanshinone iia ( another type of tanshinone compounds in dan - shen ) with ammonia : no apparent reaction showed in 48 h monitoring with tlc according to the method of example 3 and substituting cryptotanshinone with tanshinone iia , which suggested that no interaction exists in this condition between tanshinone iia and ammonia . the animals used in this experiment were 50 healthy male sd rats weighing 250 - 300 g . they were randomly divided into 5 groups , that is , normal control group , experimental control group ( acetamide group ), sodium glutamate / acetamide group , cryptotanshinone / acetamide group and tanshinone iia / acetamide group . the rats in all those groups except the normal control group were injected intraperitoneally with saline , sodium glutamate injection ( with a dose of 410 mg / kg ), saline solution of cryptotanshinone ( containing small amount of surface active agent , with a dose of 10 mg / kg ), saline solution of tanshinone iia ( containing small amount of surface active agent , with a dose of 10 mg / kg ) respectively . 45 min after the injection , the rats in all those groups except normal control group were injected intraperitoneally with 5 . 5 mmol / kg acetamide . above injections continued for 4 days . in the 4 th day , 30 min after the acetamide injection , blood samples of the rats in each group were collected by eyeball removing method immediately , and processed with the anticoagulant edta - na , then the blood ammonia concentration was determined using conventional method . the results were showed in table 1 . the dose of sodium glutamate in this example and following examples was settled with the reference of its actual clinical dose . the method for determining the blood ammonia concentration in this example and following examples was enzyme - uv method , the instrument used was hitachi - 7170 automatic analyzer , and the kit used was ammonia kit . calculation formula of decrease ratio in table 1 and following tables was : decrease rate =[ 1 −( concentration of treating group − concentration of normal control group )/( concentration of experimental control group − concentration of normal control group )]× 100 %. using the same experiment method , 90 min after the acetamide injection at the 4 th day , blood samples of the rats in each group were collected by eyeball removing method immediately . the blood ammonia concentration was determined . the results were showed in table 2 . the same experiment condition in example 4 was adopted except sodium glutamate oral taking ( the dose was 200 mg / kg ) instead of sodium glutamate injecting , cryptotanshinone oral taking ( the dose is 100 mg / kg ) instead of injecting , and tanshinone iia oral talking ( the dose is 100 mg / kg ) instead of injecting . in the 4th day , 30 min after the acetamide injection , blood samples of the rats in each group were collected by eyeball removing method immediately , and processed with the anticoagulant edta - na , then the blood ammonia concentration was determined . the results were shown in table 3 . using the same experiment method , 90 min after the acetamide injection at the 4 th day , blood samples of the rats in each group were collected by eyeball removing method immediately . the blood ammonia concentration was determined . the results were showed in table 4 . experimental animals were 50 healthy male sd rats , weight between 250 - 300 g . they were randomly divided into 4 groups , i . e . normal control group , experimental control group ( ammonium acetate group ), sodium glutamate / acetamide group , and cryptotanshinone / acetamide group . the rats in all those groups except the normal control group were injected intraperitoneally with saline , sodium glutamate solution ( with a dose of 410 mg / kg ), and saline solution of cryptotanshinone ( containing small amount of surface active agent , with a dose of 30 mg / kg ) respectively . 45 min after the injection , the rats in all those groups except the normal control group were injected intraperitoneally with 5 . 5 mmol / kg acetamide . above injections continued for 4 days . in the 4 th day , 60 min after the acetamide injection , the rats of each group were put to death , and brain tissue samples were taken out immediately and homogenized under low temperature condition , then the ammonia concentration in brain tissue was determined by using glutamate dehydrogenase assay . the results were listed in table 5 . the same experiment condition in example 6 was adopted except sodium glutamate oral taking ( the dose was 200 mg / kg ) instead of sodium glutamate injection and cryptotanshinone oral taking ( dose 150 mg / kg ) instead of cryptotanshinone injection . in the 4 th day , 60 min after the acetamide injection , the rats of each group were put to death and brain tissue samples were taken out immediately . then , the ammonia concentration in brain tissue was determined . the results were listed in table 6 . experimental animals were 40 healthy male sd rats , weight between 250 - 300 g . they were randomly divided into 4 groups , i . e . normal control group , model control group a ( d - galactose / quinolinic acid group ), model control group b ( d - galactose / acetamide group ), and cryptotanshinone group ( d - galactose / acetamide / cryptotanshinone group ). morris water labyrinth method was used to evaluate the neuro - behavioral symptoms of rats model caused by subacute senium and chemical damage by d - galactose . model control group a ( d - galactose / quinolinic acid group ): d - galactose was injected subcutaneously ( 50 mg / kg / day , for 6 weeks ) to cause subacute senium in rats . quinolinic acid ( 1 μl , containing quinolinic acid 75 nmol ) was injected into the rats &# 39 ; bilateral hippocampal gyrus to evidently decrease rats &# 39 ; labyrinth learning and memorizing ability , which served as animal model similar to ad . model control group b ( d - galactose / acetamide group ): d - galactose was injected subcutaneously ( 50 mg / kg / day , for 6 weeks ) to cause subacute senium in rats ; acetamide ( 10 mmol / kg / day ) was injected intraperitoneally for 7 continuous days . hyperammonemia resulted in high ammonia level in brain tissue and caused damage to brain tissue , thereby evidently decreasing rats &# 39 ; labyrinth learning and memorizing ability . the treated rats were served as animal model similar to ad . simultaneously with subcutaneous injection of d - galactose ( 50 mg / kg / day , for 6 weeks ), cryptotanshinone was orally administered ( the dose was 200 mg / kg / day ). 10 mmol / kg acetamide was intraperitoneally injected for 7 continuous days ( cryptotanshinone was orally given at the same time ). the results of morris water labyrinth test of rats in each group were listed in table 7 . acute toxicity test in mouse : the animals used in this study were healthy male mice . the drug was administrated intragastrically . still no toxic symptom or death showed in the experiment mice when the administrated dose added to 1 . 5 g / kg . the experiment showed that ld 50 of cryptotanshinone & gt ; 30 g 1 kg . 30 days toxicity test in mouse : the animals used in this study were healthy male mice . the drug was continually administrated intragastrically for 30 days with dose of 200 mg / kg day . the results showed that there was no death of the tested mice , and no apparent abnormal change or toxic reaction in the growth and development , hematopoiesis function , and biochemical index observed in the tested mice . no pathology change of major organs was found by anatomical inspection and tissue microscopy inspection . experimental animals were healthy male rats . the drug was continually administrated intragastrically at a dose of 300 mg / kg / day , continued for 5 days . 1 hour after administration on the 5 th day , rats were put to death and brains were taken out . the brain tissues were homogenized and then extracted with chloroform . significant amount of cryptotanshinone was detected with hplc . 1 ) cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention can interact with ammonia or amines under physiological conditions and thereby eliminating ammonia or amines . 2 ) experiments in hyperammonemia animal model showed that cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention possess excellent ability in reducing blood ammonia concentration . 3 ) experiments in high brain tissue ammonia level animal models showed cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention possess excellent ability to reducing ammonia level in brain tissue . 4 ) neuro - behavioral experiments in ad animal model showed that cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention can effectively delay ad rats &# 39 ; impaired neuro - behavior time and relieve impaired neuro - behavior symptoms of model rats . 5 ) toxicological test with cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention showed that cryptotanshinone is safely used as drug under normal dosage . 6 ) cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention can be absorbed into blood by gi tract and therefore eliminates blood ammonia . simultaneously , cryptotanshinone can pass blood brain barrier and enter into brain tissue , thereby ammonia in brain tissue can be eliminated . 7 ) compared with glutamic acid which is a typical drug commonly used to treat hyperammonemia in the art , the same or more effective result can be obtained from the compound in the present invention with even smaller dosage . the therapeutic efficacy of the compound in the present invention is more significant than glutamic acid especially when the liver function is damaged . 8 ) because glutamic acid cannot pass blood brain barrier , it has little effect of reducing brain ammonia level . whereas cryptotanshinone can pass blood brain barrier and enter into brain tissue , so it possesses excellent function of eliminating high - level brain ammonia . 9 ) cryptotanshinone represented by formula ( i ) in this invention can pass blood brain barrier and enter into brain tissue ; it possesses excellent function of elimination high - level brain ammonia . this indicates that it can be used to prevent and treat high - level brain ammonia , and served as effective drugs to prevent ad and treat early stage ad patients .
the present invention relates to use of cryptotanshinone represented by formula : or a pharmaceutical composition containing the compound for manufacturing drug in preventing and treating early stage ad .