Wild-Grown and Cultivated Glechoma hederacea L.: Chemical Composition and Potential for Cultivation in Organic Farming Conditions

Abstract

Glechoma hederacea L. is a medicinal plant that is known in traditional medicine for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer properties. This study evaluated the potential for commercial production of G. hederacea and compared the chemical composition and activity of 70% ethanol extracts and steam-distilled essential oils from wild-grown and cultivated G. hederacea collected in different harvesting periods. The main compounds identified in the 70% ethanol extracts were phenolic acids (chlorogenic and rosmarinic acids) and flavonoid O-glycosides. The essential oil varied in the three accessions in the range of 0.32–2.98 mL/kg−1 of dry weight. The extracts possessed potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties in LPS-treated bone-marrow-derived macrophages. The results of flow cytometry show that extracts from different vegetation periods reduced the conversion of macrophages to the proinflammatory phenotype M1. The chemical composition varied the most with the different harvesting periods, and the most suitable periods were the flowering and vegetative phases for the polyphenolic compounds and essential oils, respectively. G. hederacea can be successfully grown under organic farming conditions, and cultivation does not significantly affect the chemical composition and biological activity compared to wild-grown plants.

Optimization of the Extraction Procedure for the Phenolic-Rich Glechoma hederacea L. Herb and Evaluation of Its Cytotoxic and Antioxidant Potential

“…In the first step of the study, a direct qualitative and quantitative comparison of the individual phenolic compounds was performed in the obtained extracts. The qualitative profile was consistent with the results of the other authors [12,17,18,24,29]. However, isoflavones, such as daidzin, genistein, and genistin, which have been reported by Chou et al [12] were not detected in any sample, and this result is consistent with the observations of Šeremet et al [18].…”

“…Until now, in most studies aimed at quantitative analysis of phenolics in G. hederacea L., various extraction methods were used, but no direct comparison of the content of individual extract components was performed [12,16,24,[26][27][28][29]. The only exception are two studies, which focused on water extracts obtained with the use of classical (HAE-heat assisted extraction) and modern (MAE-microwave-assisted and SWE-subcritical water extraction) methods [17,18].…”

“…In most of the published papers, the quantification of phenolics in G. hederacea L. was preceded by extraction with water [16][17][18]29,38], while other solvents, such as 70-80% MeOH [28,38] or 70% EtOH [24,38] or mixtures of solvents (e.g., methanol/acetone/water) were rarely used [27]. Only one study compared water and alcoholic (70%) extracts of G. hederacea L. obtained with the use of maceration (24 h; room temperature) [38].…”

“…Pharmacological effects are most often related to the presence of phenolics, such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, which are found in significant amounts in this plant species [12,[16][17][18][19]. Nevertheless, phytochemical studies on G. hederacea L. aerial parts revealed also the presence of triterpenes and diterpenes, essential oil, alkaloids, fatty acids, and tannins [1,3,[20][21][22][23][24].…”

“…Considering that phenolic compounds are presumed to be the main bioactive components of plant material it is essential to achieve the most effective procedure for their extraction. Although many reports provide data on the quantification of phenolics in G. hederacea L. [12,16,24,[26][27][28][29], only few have focused on the influence of various extraction methods on the content of individual compounds [17,18]. Furthermore, data on the optimization of the extraction procedure of dried G. hederacea L. herb are limited to only one study, comparing different water extracts in terms of their antioxidant activity and total phenolic content (TPC) [18].…”