A new diarylbutane lignan, 2'-hydroxy dihydroguaiaretic acid (4), and a known 8-O-4'-type neolignan, machilin D (5), were isolated from the ethyl acetate extracts of the underground parts of Saururus chinensis. Compounds 4 and 5 exhibited low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-antioxidant activity in the thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) assay (4: IC(50)=3.3 microM and 5: IC(50)=3.8 microM), the lag time of conjugated diene production, the relative electrophoretic mobility (REM) of ox-LDL, the apoB-100 fragmentation on copper-mediated LDL oxidation and the macrophage-mediated LDL oxidation, and radical DPPH scavenging activity.