Phytochemical and pharmacological review of Allium species from Georgia

peer reviewedA review. The aim of the research was phytochem. and pharmacol. review of the species of genus Allium, growing in Georgia. The material of the research was scientific sources and articles, where was described, phytochem. constituents and pharmacol. activity of these plants. 36 species of genus Allium are described in Georgia. Among them 5 species are endemic for Georgia and 2 for Caucasus region. Many biol. active compounds are isolated from the studied species of this genus. Among them, more than 20 saponins, also 11 different types of sapogenins, flavonoids, sulfuric compounds, etc. In the literature, there are many biol. studies on these isolated compounds According to the results of the research, extracts of the plants genus Allium, as well as, the individual compounds have important pharmacol. activity, for example: Cytotoxic activity, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity, hepatoprotective activity, fibrinolytic activity, etc. Among the 36 species of genus Allium, common in Georgia, 22 have not been studied. Chem. structure and biol. activity of compounds in these species have not been determined In future, detailed and extensive studies are certainly required to improve the knowledge about the pharmacol. activities, chem. constituents and efficacy of these plants

Microstructural features of generative and vegetative organs of Allium saxatile growing in Georgia

peer reviewedThe microstructural characteristics of the vegetative and generating organs of the medicinal plant Allium saxatile Bieb. has been studied, using Carl Zeiss, Jeneval light microscope, and Omax stereoscopic microscope. The leaves of A. saxatile are bare and have a toothed edge. Mesophyll of the leave is characterized by an isolateral structure. leaf-covering tissue is sharply cutinized, and the cell membrane of the single-rowed epidermal tissue is strongly thickened. The stem is bare, the protective tissue is actively cutinized, the epidermis is in a single layer, and its cells are characterized by a square shape and have a strong thickening of the outer periclinal walls. The vascular bundle is represented with a group layout of lumens of large and small-caliber conductive vessels of an oval and weakly angular shape. The thickening of the shell of the vascular bundle is predominantly spiral. The inflorescence is round, with a frequent flower umbrella. The perianth is egg-bellish, its cover is free, elongated, pointed in shape, and pale pink in color. Filaments are longer than flowers of the perianth. The bulb is free, surrounded by an elongated-conical shape, brownish coloring, and dried, leathery shell. The root of have the shape of a sphere, covering the tissue of the root – exoderm has a double row of cells and is represented by thin-skinned smaller size and large, square-shaped cells

Microstructural features of generative and vegetative organs of Allium ponticum growing in Georgia

peer reviewedThe study aims to determine diagnostic characteristics based on the macro- and microstructural characteristics of the generating and vegetative organs of Allium ponticum Micscz ex Grossh. The bilateral epidermis of the leaves of A. ponticum has an identical structure. Paracytic-type stomata are concentrated on the narrowed edge of cells of leaf epidermis. Vascular bundle of collateral type. The protective tissue of the stem is cutinized, the epidermis is one-line, and the outer periclinal wall of epidermal cells is powerfully thickened. In the epidermis, slightly submerged stomata are differentiated. The leaf is abundantly equipped with a collateral-type vascular bundle of different diameters. The flower is a round, hemisphere, frequent-flowered umbrella. Basal cells of the epidermis of the filament are characterized by the straight or indirect tilt of elongated, linear periclinal walls. The bulb is well-developed and free. It is spherical-oval in shape, and its shell is almost leathery. On the panorama of the texture of the cross-section of the bulb, in the basipetal direction, the tendency of differentiation of the fibrous root system is manifested

Pharmacognostic and pharmacological aspects of plants genus Allium growing in Georgia

editorial reviewedThe genus Allium belongs to the former family Alliaceae (now included in Amaryllidaceae). This genus involves up to 1233 species. Plants of the genus Allium have a long history of traditional uses worldwide. The story of Allium cultivation starts over 4000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Allium species are widely used in Georgian traditional medicine as an antifungal, antiseptic and antibacterial remedy. 36 species of the genus Allium are described in Georgia. Among them, 5 species are endemic to Georgia and 2 to the Caucasus region. The aim of this project was the phytochemical study of secondary metabolites of species of the genus Allium, namely A. saxatile and A. ponticum growing in Georgia. To obtain a crude extract of these plants, powdered plants were extracted with 80% EtOH, using an ultrasonic water bath heated at 50˚C. Dried extracts of each plant were subjected to Diaion HP-20 column chromatography. The mobile phase was H2O-MeOH in gradient condition (100:0; 50:50; 0:100 v/v) and EtOAc to give 4 enriched fractions of each plant (A.S.F1_H2O; A.S.F2_MeOH-50%; A.S.F3_MeOH-100%; A.S.F4_EtOAc; A.P.F1_H2O; A.P.F2_MeOH-50%; A.P.F3_MeOH-100%; A.P.F4_EtOAc). Analgesic, anti-inflammatory and gastroprotective activity of the aforementioned fractions were evaluated in rodents using “Hot plate”, carrageenan-induced paw edema, and ethanol-induced ulcer assays, respectively. A. saxatile total extract reveals analgesic activity reaching its maximum at 60 min after the administration. Differently, A. ponticum total extract revealed faster onset but a shorter duration of action. A similar tendency was observed when studying the efficacy of fractions obtained from total extracts. The fact that the A.S.F3 fraction has even higher activity than the total extract, allows concluding that this fraction contains a compound(s) responsible for the analgesic effect. In the ethanol-induced ulcer model, only crude extract of A. saxatile has a moderate gastroprotective effect. Moreover, the crude extract of A. ponticum revealed ulcerogenic properties increasing the ulcer index over one in control animals. Assessment of anti-inflammatory activity revealed a notable efficacy of A.S.tot and A.P.tot extracts (63.5% and 32.7%, respectively). Similarly, to the analgesic assay, 100% methanolic fraction (A.S.F3) showed pronounced activity. The obtained results will contribute to the phytochemistry of Allium species already studied and give a strong background for further investigation of active fractions to isolate the individual compounds responsible for the detected activity

Evaluation of Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity of Plants Allium Ponticum and Allium Saxatile, Growing in Georgia

peer reviewe

Exploration approfondie des alcaloïdes de Strychnos par la mise en réseau moléculaire : Découverte de la strychnine dans de nouvelles espèces

peer reviewedDue to their wide variety of traditional uses and promising activities against Plasmodium parasites, plants of the Strychnos genus have been very well studied. Moreover, different attempts to draw an intrageneric taxonomy were made, based on morphological (Duvigneaud) and genetic (Setubal) characters. Moreover, in the Setubal et al. (2021) study, the results concluded that the classification established by Duvigneau is currently the most appropriate. In this context, my research project consists in exploring the chemodiversity of Strychnos alkaloids in order to identify new bioactive metabolites against malaria and cancer, but also to study the chemotaxonomy of Strychnos genus. To achieve these objectives, 44 extracts, from 28 species of Strychnos, were studied by LC-MS/MS and molecular networking. Furthermore, by comparison with MS/MS spectra databases, known and unknown metabolites were annotated. Among the known ones, strychnine was surprisingly detected in seven Strychnos species for the first time, namely in S. tricalysioides, S. camptoneura, S. congolana, S. boonei, S. densiflora, S. tchibangensis and S. usambarensis. The TLC, HPLC, NMR and UPLC-MS/MS analyses allowed to detect the presence of this compound. This novel identification of strychnine, allowed by the sensitivity of the technique used, offers new insights in the chemotaxonomy of the Strychnos genus. The perspectives are, on the one hand, further delineation of indole monoterpene alkaloids distribution in Strychnos spp., in regard to their taxonomic organization and, on the other hand, the identification of original bioactive compounds in this series

L'exploration par réseau moléculaire des alcaloïdes de Strychnos révèle la présence inattendue de strychnine dans sept espèces de Strychnos

peer reviewedIntroduction Plants of the genus Strychnos , which include about 200 species, are used for multiple traditional purposes as hunting poison, for example, and have shown interesting pharmacological properties, especially curarizing and tetanizing, but also against malaria. Many monoterpene indole alkaloids have already been isolated and identified. Among them, there is strychnine, a famous alkaloid that can cause death by asphyxiation. Objective Investigate alkaloidic molecular diversity from Strychnos genus using molecular networking technique and study the Strychnos genus from a chemotaxonomic point of view. Material and methods Twenty-eight different species and different plant parts were ground into powder using a grinder. The methanolic extracts were carried out using a pressurized solvent extraction and the alkaloid extract was performed manually with a separating funnel. The extracts were analyzed by HPLC-ESI(+)-Q/TOF. The data were processed using MZmine 2 software and the molecular network was generated on the GNPS platform. The study of the generated molecular network allowed the detection of various alkaloids. Among these is the famous strychnine which has been detected in 7 new Strychnos species not yet described as strychnine producers. This identification was investigated using orthogonal approaches, namely TLC, NMR, HPLC-UV and UHPLC-ESI(+)-Q/TOF analyses. The LOD by HPLC-UV of strychnine was also determined. Results Further analyses allowed to confirm the presence of strychnine in S. densiflora trunk barks but also to show the presence of strychnine with high probability in the trunk barks of S. camptoneura, S. congolana, S. boonei and S. tchibangensis and in the leaves of S. usambarensis. About the trunk barks of S. tricalyisoides , the probability of a strychnine content remains low. Conclusion This work exemplified the efficiency of molecular networking in identifying known metabolites (major and minor alkaloids) involved in the chemotaxonomic study of plants from Strychnos genus