Differential metabolic and biological profiles of Lychnophora ericoides mart. (Asteraceae) from different localities in the Brazilian "campos rupestres"

Abstract

Este artigo descreve a caracterização por CLAE-DAD-EM/EM e CLAE-DEC dos perfis de metabólitos secundários de extratos das folhas de Lychnophora ericoides Mart. de diferentes procedências e suas propriedades citotóxicas e antioxidantes. Extratos foliares de populações representando sete diferentes localidades foram avaliados quanto à atividade antioxidante pelo sistema DPPH e à atividade citotóxica em três linhagens tumorais. Os extratos foram eletroquimicamente caracterizados por CLAE-DEC e seus metabólitos secundários majoritários foram identificados por CLAE-DAD-EM e CLAE-DAD-EM/EM. Um metabolismo secundário defensivo amplificado, juntamente com as mais altas bioatividades antioxidantes e citotóxicas, foi encontrado para as plantas coletadas na interface entre dois tipos de vegetação. Estes resultados fornecem apoio adicional para a hipótese de que plantas ocorrendo na interface entre dois ecossistemas podem ser estimuladas a amplificar sua produção e armazenamento de metabólitos secundários defensivos, devido ao maior número de influências ambientais. This paper reports HPLC-DAD-MS/MS and HPLC-ECD characterisation of secondary metabolite profiles of Lychnophora ericoides Mart. leaf extracts from different provenances and their cytotoxic and antioxidant properties. Leaf extracts from populations representing seven different locations were evaluated for antioxidant activity by the DPPH radical scavenging system and activity towards cellular growth in three tumor cell lines. The extracts were electrochemically analysed by HPLC-ECD and their main secondary metabolites were identified by HPLC-DAD-MS and HPLC-DAD-MS/MS. An amplified defensive secondary chemistry, together with maximal cytotoxic and antioxidant bioactivities, were found for plants collected at the interface between two types of forest. These findings furnish additional support for the hypothesis that plants occurring at the interface between two forests ecosystems might be stimulated to amplify their own production and storage of defensive secondary metabolites due to the greater number of environmental influences.Keywords: Lychnophora ericoides, secondary metabolite infra-specific variation, hyphenated techniques, cytotoxic activity, antioxidant activity IntroductionThe genus Lychnophora (Asteraceae, Vernonieae) is restricted to the Brazilian "cerrado", the Brazilian savannas.1,2 Traditional medicine employs alcohol and water-alcohol preparations of leaves and root powder from several Lychnophora species for the treatment of wounds, inflammation and pain. 3,4 Among Lychnophora species, L. ericoides Mart. is the most widely used in traditional medicine. 3,4 This species occurs in small and well delimited Gobbo-Neto et al. 751 Vol. 21, No. 4, 2010 microendemic populations, usually containing between 20-50 adult individuals in a 100-200 m 2 area, and occurring in a particular type of high altitude, rocky field found in the Brazilian "cerrado". These fields are known as "campos rupestres". 1 Previous phytochemical investigation of L. ericoides le...

A new HPLC-DAD-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of major compounds in the crude extract of Lychnophora salicifolia Mart. (Brazilian arnicão) leaves: Application to chemical variability evaluation

“…Sesquiterpene lactones are the main compounds employed for Vernonieae systematics [33]. Recent phytochemical investigations have suggested that not all Lychnophora species can store or produce sesquiterpene lactones [34]. An example of a chromatogram with the numbers of the identified signals is illustrated in Fig.…”

Mass Spectrometry of Flavonoid Vicenin-2, Based Sunlight Barriers in Lychnophora species

“…This increase was found to be correlated with maximal cytotoxic activities of plants growing at the interface between two types of forest, the campos rupestris and a semi-deciduous forest9. Vicenin-2 was also found to be present in every sample analyzed of L. ericoides , suggesting the conserved accumulation of this secondary metabolite and that there may be a conserved role for this substance9. We therefore set out to identify a physiological role for vicenin-2 mapping its location in the leaves from Brazilian wild Lychnophora plants by subjecting sectioned leaves for Imaging Mass Spectrometry (IMS), and to correlate its tissue distribution with possible physiological functions.…”

“…In a similar ecological study with Lychnophora ericoides from eight different provenances showed an increase in defensive metabolites (by sesquiterpene lactones biosynthesis). This increase was found to be correlated with maximal cytotoxic activities of plants growing at the interface between two types of forest, the campos rupestris and a semi-deciduous forest9. Vicenin-2 was also found to be present in every sample analyzed of L. ericoides , suggesting the conserved accumulation of this secondary metabolite and that there may be a conserved role for this substance9.…”

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Secondary Metabolites Content of the Brazilian Arnica Leaves (Lychnophora ericoides Mart., Asteraceae)

“…2386 between two types of vegetation (and consequently of fauna) could be stimulated to amplify the production and storage of defensive secondary metabolites. This hypothesis can be strengthened by 32 in which is reported that the extract from Ibiraci exhibited the strongest cytotoxic activity in all the evaluated cell lines, while the extracts from the other places presented insignificant or very low cytotoxicity in general. The city of Ibiraci is located in a transition area between two biomes: Cerrado and the semi-deciduous of the Atlantic Forest, while the other populations are located in inner area of the Cerrado.…”

“…In the other hand, the chlorogenic acids are present in all individual of the evaluated L. ericoides, 17,32 and for this reason, they could be considered as characteristic metabolite for this species; however, the widespread occurrence in Asteraceae family 8,33,34 limits its use as a chemotaxonomic marker.…”