Concentraciones de alcaloides, glucósidos cianogénicos, polifenoles y saponinas en plantas medicinales seleccionadas en Ecuador y su relación con la toxicidad aguda contra Artemia salina

Abstract

Concentraciones de alcaloides, glucósidos cianogénicos, polifenolesy saponinas en plantas medicinales seleccionadas en Ecuador y su relación con la toxicidad aguda contra Artemia salina Alcoholic and aqueous extracts from leaves of these selected plants were prepared at different concentrations. To assess cytotoxicity of these extracts, different bioassays with A. salina were undertaken, and the mortality rates and LC 50 were obtained. Besides, concentrations of alkaloids, cyanogenic glycosides, phenols, tannins and saponins were determined by spectrophotometric methods; this constituted the first report of quantification of secondary metabolites in the selected plants from Ecuador. T. officinale had the highest concentration of total phenols (22.30 ± 0.23 mg/g) and tannins (11.70 ± 0.10 mg/g), C. aconitifolius of cyanogenic glycosides (5.02 ± 0.37 µg/g) and P. hysterophorus of saponins (6.12 ± 0.02 mg/g). Tannins values obtained were not adverse to their consumption. Alcoholic and aqueous extracts of selected plants had hemolytic activity depending on the concentration of saponins. Although the values of cyanogenic glycosides were permissible, it was necessary to monitor the presence of this metabolite in plants to minimize health problems. LC 50 values ranged from extremely toxic (3.37 µg/mL) to highly toxic (274.34 μg/mL), in P. carpunya and T. officinale, respectively. From correlation analysis, it was observed that increase values of alkaloids concentrations had highly significant (p<0.001) acute toxicity against A. salina, while at a higher polyphenol concentration the level of plants cytotoxicity decreased significantly (p<0.001). The results of principal component analysis showed that saponins apparently were in synergy with polyphenols to decrease cytotoxicity, but antagonize with alkaloids and cyanogenic glycosides, indicating that these secondary metabolites present variability in the mechanisms of action against A. salina, as cytotoxic compounds. These results also demonstrate that polyphenols and saponins can be lethal at low concentrations, demonstrating the potential of brine shrimp bioassay as a model to evaluate plant extracts containing low concentrations of chemical compounds with high polarities. The significant positive correlation between cytotoxicity and concentration of alkaloids confirmed by the bioassay of brine shrimp can be useful to identify promising sources of antitumor compounds, and to evaluate tolerable limits not affecting other benign cells. Contents of secondary metabolites found in the selected plants confer them great pharmacologic values. Rev. Biol. Trop. 64 (3):

Standardization of roots of Taraxacum officinale

“…Root extract of Taraxacum officinale revealed the presence of cardiac glycosides, terpenoids (antiviral activity), phenols (Immuno modulatory and antihyperglycemic) (Kenny et al, 2015) , tannins (wound healing activity) (Ajaz et al, 2019), flavonoids (antioxidant and antiinflammatory activity) (Hagymási et al, 2000), steroids and sterols (Antihyperglycemic and Anti inflammatory activity) (Petlevski et al, 2003) (Jones and Persaud, 1998) carbohydrates, proteins and amino acids with absence of alkaloids and fixed oil. Also similar finding reported in the other species of the same family (Jaramillo-Jaramillo et al, 2016). HPTLC is one of the most demanding technical methods for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of medicinal plants (Marston, 2007).…”

Computational Evaluation of Bioactive Compounds from Dysphania ambrosioides Leaves

“…Among these molecules, (Z)‐Ascaridole which is another monoterpen, was the most active compound and thus has shown the strongest fumigant activity against S. zeamais. According to, [17] Colombian D. ambrosioides leaves was obtained using hydrodistillation, and its volatile chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography coupled with a mass spectrometry detector (GC‐MS), showing the presence of the following molecules: Estragol, Eugenol, (E)‐Carveol and Carene (belonging to the carene family) which was among the predominant compounds in the essential oil [18] . reported that the essential oil from Indian D. ambrosioides leaves was analyzed using a gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detector (GC‐MS), and allowed the identification of the following compounds : Benzaldehyde, Dihydrocarvyl acetate and Pinocarvone which was present as a minority compound.…”

Utilización de plantas medicinales en cuatro localidades de la zona sur de Manabí, Ecuador

“…El conocimiento de los principios bioactivos que poseen las personas sobre las plantas existentes en los ecosistemas de la zona sur de Manabí servirá de punto de partida para futuras investigaciones en la rama de la bioquímica. Este hecho, según Beyra et al (2004); Ugartemendia-Ugalde et al (2015), a su vez contrasta con el creciente interés del mundo académico por conocer los principios bioactivos de las especies consideradas como medicinales; esos autores desarrollaron investigación bibliográfica partiendo de las plantas catalogadas como medicinales, como por ejemplo, especies de los géneros: Mentha, Matricaria, Valeriana, Passiflora, Citrus, entre otros; por otra parte, Jaramillo-Jaramillo et al (2016) plantearon que el contenido de metabolitos secundarios hallados en plantas les atribuye un gran valor farmacológico.…”