Variation of bioactive secondary metabolites in Hypericum origanifolium during its phenological cycle

Abstract

The genus Hypericum has received considerable interest from scientists, as it contains the variety of structurally diverse natural products which possess a wide array of biological properties. The present study was conducted to determine ontogenetic and morphogenetic variation of hypericin, chlorogenic acid and flavonoids, as rutin, hyperoside, apigenin-7-Oglucoside, quercitrin and quercetin content in Hypericum origanifolium growing in Turkey. Wild growing plants were harvested at vegetative, floral budding, full flowering, fresh fruiting and mature fruiting stages and dissected into stem, leaf and reproductive tissues and assayed for bioactive compounds by HPLC method. Hypericin, quercetin and quercitrin content in whole plant increased during course of ontogenesis and the highest level was reached in blooming stage. On the contrary, hyperoside content of whole plant decreased linearly with advancing of development stages and the highest level was observed at vegetative stage. Plants produced similar amount of chlorogenic acid at all stages of plant phenology except for mature fruiting at which the amount of this compound was decreased sharply. Among different tissues, reproductive parts accumulated the highest level of hypericin, quercetin and quercitrin, however, leaves produced substantially higher amount of chlorogenic acid and hyperoside. Rutin and apigenin-7-O-glucoside were detectable in all tissues only during fruit maturation. The presence and variation of these bioactive substances in H. origanifolium were reported for the first time.

Changes in the contents of main secondary metabolites in two TurkishHypericumspecies during plant development

“…The highest level was reached at flowering and the content of both hypericin forms decreased during fruit ontogenesis as observed in our previous study on total hypericin content of the same species (Cirak et al, 2006). Similarly, the highest content of hypericin and pseudohypericin in H. perforatum (Couceiro et al, 2006;Bagdonaite et al, 2010), H. pruinatum (Cirak et al, 2006) and H. origanifolium (Cirak et al, 2007b) was determined during flower ontogenesis.…”

“…depilatum and H. orientale. The same trend of phenologic change in chlorogenic acid content was also reported for H. origanifolium (Cirak et al, 2007b) and H. triquetrifolium (Hosni et al, 2011). However, our data for quercetine content did not match those of Kazlauskas and Bagdonaite (2004) and Abreu et al (2004).…”

Models of estimation of the content of secondary metabolites in someHypericumspecies

“…The plant materials were described in our previous studies (Çırak et al, 2007a, 2007bÇırak & Radušienė, 2007 …”

“…These herbaceous perennials grow in grassy communities on rocky slopes or steppes in northern Turkey, and have antispasmodic, sedative, and anti-inflammatory properties (Baytop, 1999). All three species of Hypericum have great pharmaceutical potential, with their well documented contents of hyperforin, hypericins, and flavonoids (Çırak et al, 2007a, 2007bÇırak & Radušienė, 2007.…”

“…We have also described the close relationships between the phenolic contents of different plant tissues and Table 2. Hypericin content in stem, leaves, reproductive parts, and whole shoots of Hypericum species examined at different stages of plant development (mg/g dry weight (DW)) (Çırak et al, 2007a, 2007b …”