Introduction Antrodia salmonea T. T. Chang & W. N. Chou is a basidiomycete first identified in 2004 as a new species of the genus Antrodia (Polyporaceae, Aphyllophorales) [1]. This basidioma is similar to Antrodia cinnamomea T. T. Chang & W. N. Chou [syn. A. camphorata S. H. Wu et al.], which has been used as a folk medi- cine in Taiwan [2]. Previous chemical investigations of A. cinnamomea afforded several components [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11] and pharmacological studies of this basidioma revealed cytotoxicity against P-388 murine leukaemia cells [4], anti-inflammatory [12], [14], and antiviral [13] properties. In the course of our research on Antrodia fungi, two new lanos- tanes, lanosta-8,24-diene-3b,5a,21-triol and 24-methylenela- nosta-8-ene-3b,15a,21-triol, and two new naphthoquinones, 2,3-dimethoxy-5-(2¢,5¢-dimethoxy-3¢,4¢-methylenedioxyphenyl)- 7-methyl-[1,4]-naphthoquinone and 2,3-dimethoxy-6-(2¢,5¢-di- Anti-InflammatoryErgostanesfromtheBasidiomataof Antrodia salmonea Chien-Chang Shen 1 Yea-Hwey Wang 2,* Tun-TschuChang 3,* Lie-Chwen Lin 1 Ming-Jaw Don 1 Yu-Chang Hou 4 Kuo-TongLiou 5 Shiou Chang 4 Wen-YenWang 4 Han-Chieh Ko 1 Yuh-Chiang Shen 1 Affiliation 1 National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan 2 Department of Pharmacy, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan 3 Division of Forest Protection, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, Taipei, Taiwan 4 Departments of Surgery and Chinese Medicine, Hsinchu and Taoyuan General Hospital, Department of Health, Taiwan 5 Graduate Institute of Sport Coaching Science, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan * Y. H. Wang and T. T. Chang contributed tothis work equally Correspondence Yuh-Chiang Shen, PhD ´ National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine ´ No.155±1, Sec. 2, Li-Nong Street ´ Taipei 112 ´ Taiwan ´ R.O.C. ´ Phone: +886-2-2820-1999 ext 9101 ´ Fax: +886-2-2826-4266 ´ E-mail: yuhcs@nricm.edu.tw Received October 27, 2006 ´ Revised July 11, 2007 ´ Accepted July 16, 2007 Bibliography Planta Med 2007; 73: 1208±1213  Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart ´ New York DOI 10.1055/s-2007-981591 ´ Published online August 31, 2007 ISSN 0032-0943 Abstract Three new anti-oxidative ergostanes, methyl antcinate L (1), an- tcin M (2), and methyl antcinate K (3), together with nine addi- tional known compounds, 3-ketodehydrosulphurenic acid, sul- phurenic acid, dehydrosulphurenic acid, 3b,15a-dihydroxylanos- ta-7,9(11),24-trien-21-oic acid, zhankuic acid A, zhankuic acid B, zhankuic acid C, antcin C, and antcin K were isolated from the ba- sidiomata of Antrodia salmonea, a newly identified species of Antrodia (Polyporaceae) in Taiwan. These three new compounds were identified as methyl 3a,7a ,12a-trihydroxy-4a-methyler- gosta-8,24(29)-dien-11-on-26-oate (1), 3a,12a-dihydroxy-4a- methylergosta-8,24(29)-dien-11-on-26-oic acid (2), and methyl 3a,4b,7b-trihydroxy-4a-methylergosta-8,24(29)-dien-11-on-26- oate (3) by spectroscopic analysis. We studied their antioxidative potential on the production of reactive oxygen species and nitric oxide (NO) in neutrophils and microglial cells, respectively. Com- pounds 1 ± 3 displayed potent antioxidative activity with IC 50 values of around 2.0 ± 8.8 mM that was partially due to inhibition (6 ± 67 %) of NADPH oxidase activity but not through direct radi- cal-scavenging properties. Compounds 1 ± 3 also inhibited NO production with IC 50 values of around 1.7±16.5 mM and were more potent than a non-specific NOS inhibitor. We conclude that these three new compounds 1 , 2, and 3 exhibit anti-inflam- matory activities in activated inflammatory cells. Keywords Polyporaceae ´ Antrodia salmonea ´ ergostane ´ lanostane ´ micro- glial cell ´ neutrophils ´ reactive oxygen species ´ nitric oxide (NO) Original Paper 1208