Factors affecting the variation of bioactive compounds in Hypericum species

The genus Hypericum (Hypericaceae) consists of 484 species from 36 sections with worldwide distribution in different areas. Turkey is considered as hot spot for diversity of Hypericum genus. Despite numerous publications, Hypericum species still attracted considerable scientific interest due to pharmaceutically relevant secondary metabolites: naphthodianthrones, acylphloroglucinol derivatives, phenolic acids, flavonoid glycosides, biflavonoids, and some other valuable constituents. Phytochemical investigations carried out on different Hypericum species provided highly heterogeneous results. The content of bioactive compounds varies significantly due to many internal and external factors, including plant organs, phenological stage, genetic profile, environmental abiotic and biotic factors, such as growing site, light, temperature, radiation, soil drought and salinity, pathogens, and herbivores attack. The variations in content of bioactive compounds in plants are regarded as the main problem in the standardization of Hypericum-derived pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements. The review discusses the main factors contributing to the variations of bioactive compounds and what kind of modulations can increase quality of Hypericum raw material

Evaluation of phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids in the crude drugs

Phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids have an important biological activity and are therapeutic agents of crude drugs. Development of validated analysis techniques of these phytotherapeutic agents (fingerprinting and assay procedures) is an important practice for efficacy, safety, and quality control of herbal drug preparations. The aim of the present work was to study analytical capabilities of the evaluation of selected phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, gallic acid, protocatechuic (3,4-dihydroxybenzoic) acid, rosmarinic acid, vanillic acid, and vanillin. Optimization and validation procedures of rapid and simple method of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography were carried out. The mobile phase of the optimized chromatographic method consisted of methanol and 0.5% acetic acid solvent in water. For the application of method, two kinds of raw materials were chosen: propolis and the Herba Origani. Coumaric acid is the dominating phenolic acid of propolis (2785 mg/g). Results of analysis of Herba Origani demonstrated high quantities (6376 mg/g) of rosmarinic and protocatechuic (1485 mg/g) acids in the samples

Fenolinių rūgščių ir fenilpropanoidų įvertinimas vaistinėje žaliavoje

Phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids have an important biological activity and are therapeutic agents of crude drugs. Development of validated analysis techniques of these phytotherapeutic agents (fingerprinting and assay procedures) is an important practice for efficacy, safety, and quality control of herbal drug preparations. The aim of the present work was to study analytical capabilities of the evaluation of selected phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, gallic acid, protocatechuic (3,4-dihydroxybenzoic) acid, rosmarinic acid, vanillic acid, and vanillin. Optimization and validation procedures of rapid and simple method of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography were carried out. The mobile phase of the optimized chromatographic method consisted of methanol and 0.5% acetic acid solvent in water. For the application of method, two kinds of raw materials were chosen: propolis and the Herba Origani. Coumaric acid is the dominating phenolic acid of propolis (2785 mg/g). Results of analysis of Herba Origani demonstrated high quantities (6376 mg/g) of rosmarinic and protocatechuic (1485 mg/g) acids in the samples

Fenolinių rūgščių ir fenilpropanoidų įvertinimas vaistinėje žaliavoje

Phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids have an important biological activity and are therapeutic agents of crude drugs. Development of validated analysis techniques of these phytotherapeutic agents (fingerprinting and assay procedures) is an important practice for efficacy, safety, and quality control of herbal drug preparations. The aim of the present work was to study analytical capabilities of the evaluation of selected phenolic acids and phenylpropanoids: caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid, ferulic acid, gallic acid, protocatechuic (3,4-dihydroxybenzoic) acid, rosmarinic acid, vanillic acid, and vanillin. Optimization and validation procedures of rapid and simple method of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography were carried out. The mobile phase of the optimized chromatographic method consisted of methanol and 0.5% acetic acid solvent in water. For the application of method, two kinds of raw materials were chosen: propolis and the Herba Origani. Coumaric acid is the dominating phenolic acid of propolis (2785 mg/g). Results of analysis of Herba Origani demonstrated high quantities (6376 mg/g) of rosmarinic and protocatechuic (1485 mg/g) acids in the samples

Conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants

The conservation of medicinal and aromatic plants includes ex situ and in situ methods. The genetic recourses of medicinal and aromatic plants are stored, studied and constantly maintained in the field collections of the Institute of Botany of Nature Research Centre, Kaunas Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University and Aleksandras Stulginskis University of Agriculture. Presently seeds of 214 accessions representing 38 species of medicinal and aromatic plants are stored in a long-term storage in the Plant Gene Bank. The data about national genetic resources are collected and stored in the Central Database of the Plant Gene Bank

Distribution patterns of essential oil terpenes in native and invasive Solidago species and their comparative assessment

The importance of invasive Solidago L. species to the environment creates a new approach to controlling their spread through the use of potentially high value raw materials. The aim of this study was to assess the distribution patterns of volatile compounds in the four Solidago spp., by identifying common and species-specific compounds with their potentials, and to confirm the origin of the spontaneous hybrid Solidago × niederederi on the basis of comparative assessment of essential oil (EO) profiles. Plant material in the flowering phase was collected in mixed populations from six different sites. The EOs were isolated separately from the leaf and the inflorescence samples by hydrodistillation for 3 h. The chemical analysis was performed by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry. Multivariate data analysis was employed to explain the interspecies relationships among Solidago spp. The results revealed the similarity among Solidago spp. EO profiles, which were dominated by monoterpenes and oxygenated compound fractions. Solidago spp. differed in species distinctive terpenes and their distribution between accessions and plant parts. Volatile compound patterns confirmed the origin of Solidago × niederederi between Solidago canadensis and Solidago virgaurea, with the higher contribution of alien species than native ones. Correct taxonomic identification of species is highly essential for the targeted collection of raw material from the wild for different applications. Solidago spp. can be considered to be underutilized sources of bioactive secondary metabolites

The effects of salt and drought stress on phenolic accumulation in greenhouse-grown Hypericum pruinatum

Hypericum pruinatum is a medicinal herb containing several bioactive compounds with important pharmacological activity. In this study, we investigated the effects of the salt (0.03 - control, 1, 2.5, 4 and 8 dS m–1 of MgSO4, CaCl2 and NaCl salts) and drought stress (80, 100 and 120% of required water) on the content of phenolic compounds, namely chlorogenic acid, rutin, hyperoside, isoquercetine, quercitrine and quercetine in greenhouse grown plantlets. In general, the salt stress especially in elevating doses increased the levels of all of the compounds analysed, whereas drought stress did not cause a significant chance in chemical content of the plantlets. The present results indicated that abiotic stress factors, particularly salinity, have a marked influence on the content of phenolic constituents in H. pruinatum and it is a salt tolerant species. The results also indicated that phenolic compounds play significant physiological role in salinity tolerance