Innovative use of intact seeds of Mucuna monosperma Wight for improved yield of L-DOPA

The drug L-DOPA has been widely used against Parkinson’s disease and is extracted from plants. Due to the increasing demand of this drug, new plant sources need to be discovered in addition to the existing sources. The paper embodies results on Mucuna monosperma, which can be a promising candidate for L-DOPA. The seed powder of this plant contains 5.48% of (dry weight) the drug and when the seeds were soaked in distilled water, content was increased to 6.58%. Different elicitors when added, enhanced the drug level in seed up to 11.8%. The possible rationale behind this increase was confirmed by increase in tyrosinase activity in the seeds. Presence of L-DOPA was confirmed using various analytical techniques as HPLC, HPTLC and NMR. The work demonstrates a potential candidate plant as a source for L-DOPA when a novel method was adopted as described here. [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s13659-011-0051-3 and is accessible for authorized users

Bioactive Components of Magical Velvet Beans

The plant Mucuna is an annual climbing shrub with long vines that can reach over fifteen meters in length. About 100–150 Mucuna species are found in the tropic and subtropic regions of both hemispheres of the earth. The genus Mucuna belongs to the family Leguminosae. It is commonly known as Kewanch, velvet bean, cowhage and kappikachhu and is found widely in India as a hardy, herbaceous, vigorous, twining annual plant. The size and dimension of the Mucuna seeds, pods, platelets and leaves change from species to species. The hair present on pods is anthelmintic, which causes itching. People are seeking great attention towards Mucuna due to its several medicinal properties, including L-DOPA (L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) along with supplementary antioxidants that are used for treating Parkinson’s disease and many neurodegenerative diseases. Thus it is being used in about 200 medicinal formulations. The current chapter outlines the work that determines the influence of different nutritional, anti-nutritional and medicinal values and bioactive agents from different parts of the Mucuna species present in India and its importance in medicine

Plant Cell Cultures : Biofactories for the Production of Bioactive Compounds

Plants have long been exploited as a sustainable source of food, flavors, agrochemicals, colors, therapeutic proteins, bioactive compounds, and stem cell production. However, plant habitats are being briskly lost due to scores of environmental factors and human disturbances. This necessitates finding a viable alternative technology for the continuous production of compounds that are utilized in food and healthcare. The high-value natural products and bioactive compounds are often challenging to synthesize chemically since they accumulate in meager quantities. The isolation and purification of bioactive compounds from plants is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and involves cumbersome extraction procedures. This demands alternative options, and the plant cell culture system offers easy downstream procedures. Retention of the metabolic cues of natural plants, scale-up facility, use as stem cells in the cosmetics industry, and metabolic engineering (especially the rebuilding of the pathways in microbes) are some of the advantages for the synthesis and accumulation of the targeted metabolites and creation of high yielding cell factories. In this article, we discuss plant cell suspension cultures for the in vitro manipulation and production of plant bioactive compounds. Further, we discuss the new advances in the application of plant cells in the cosmetics and food industry and bioprinting.Peer reviewe

Parkinsonism and Potential of Mucuna Beans

Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease, which is common all over the world. Various aspect like damages of reactive oxygen species, excitotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inflammation-facilitated cell damages are included in the etiology of disease. Good-balanced nutrition is an important part involved in the body health maintenance and reduction in the risk of chronic diseases. Genus Mucuna falls under family Fabaceae, containing high contents of L-DOPA (commonly used as an anti-Parkinson drug). Plant-based medicines are the superfluous source of polyphenols, flavonoids, carotenoids, antioxidants (ROS and RNS), terpenoids, isoflavonoids, and other biologically active phytochemicals. All these molecules have health beneficial effects with superlative pharmaceutical values. The existing chapter summaries to determine the influence of different nutritional, anti-nutritional, and medicinal potential of the Mucuna species present in India and its significance in the management of Parkinson’s disease (Shaking Palsy) as well as other medicinal values. It also covers various treatment models used in studying the Parkinson’s disease like Drosophila melanogaster, zebrafish, mice, rat, and humans. This chapter also focuses light on the neurosurgical treatments used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This study concluded that the use of Mucuna seeds for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease is the best choice besides chemical drugs and other therapies

Evaluation of l-dopa, proximate composition with in vitro anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of Mucuna macrocarpa beans: A future drug for Parkinson treatment

Objective: To investigate L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-dopa, anti-Parkinson drug), anti-inflammatory activity, proximate nutritional composition and antioxidant potential of Mucuna macrocarpa (M. macrocarpa) beans. Methods: l-dopa content was determined and quantified by high performance thin layer chromatography and reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) methods. Anti-inflammatory activity was performed by in vitro protein denaturation inhibition and human red blood cell membrane stabilisation activity. Proximate composition and elemental analysis were also investigated. The antioxidant potential (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, N-N-dimethyl-phenylenediamine and ferric-reducing antioxidant power) of M. macrocarpa beans were evaluated by using different extraction solvents. The RP-HPLC analysis also quantified significant phenolics such as gallic acid, tannic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid and p-coumaric acid. Results: RP-HPLC quantification revealed that M. macrocarpa beans contain a high level of l-dopa [(115.41 ± 0.985) mg/g] which was the highest among the Mucuna species from Indian sub-continent. Water extract of seed powder showed strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential. Proximate composition of M. macrocarpa beans revealed numerous nutritional and anti-nutritional components. RP-HPLC analysis of major phenolics such as tannic acid (43.795 mg/g), gallic acid (0.864 mg/g), p-coumaric acid (0.364 mg/g) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (0.036 mg/g) quantified successfully from M. macrocarpa beans respectively. Conclusions: This study suggests that M. macrocarpa is a potential source of l-dopa with promising anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and nutritional benefits. Keywords: Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidants, l-dopa, Mucuna macrocarpa, Oxidative stress, Parkinson's diseas

Radio-sensitivity of

Introduction. Banana is a worldwide important fruit crop, and improved clones which are resistant/tolerant to different biotic and abiotic stresses are very much required. In this regard, prospects of in vitro mutagenesis are high and relevant. Materials and methods. The in vitro cultures (individual and multiple shoots) and in vivo plant materials (suckers and hardened plants) of banana cv. Basrai (AAA) were exposed to 60Co gamma ray doses ranging from 0-100 Gy. Radio-sensitivity of suckers and in vitro individual shoots was assessed by recording data on survival, multiplication ratio, days to root initiation, root number, root length, shoot length, plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and chlorophyll content. Results. Increase in the dose of gamma-rays resulted in corresponding decrease in the growth of the explants. Further, as a trend, the in vivo explants were observed to be more vulnerable than the in vitro ones. This offers possibilities of obtaining live plant materials even at high doses thereby increasing the probability of higher frequency of mutations. Lower doses of 10 and 20 Gy had an enhancing effect on the multiplication ratio of in vitro multiple shoot cultures. Conclusion. The in vivo and in vitro plant materials exhibited differential response to gamma-irradiation. The results obtained from the present studies will be useful in refining strategies for in vitro mutation induction aimed at banana improvement