Genetic diversity and relationship of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. landraces and related taxa

Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. (Zhe Beimu): A review on its traditional uses, phytochemical profile and pharmacological properties

Fritillaria thunbergii Miq. (Zhe beimu) ranked as oldest known homeopathic traditional folk medicine in China. The bulbs are medicinally important curing cough, inflammation, gastric ulcers, hypertension, diarrhea, and bronchitis. The aim of this review is to enlighten the deeper knowledge about F. thunbergii giving a comprehensive overview on its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology for future investigation of plant-based drugs and therapeutic applications. Total 48 medicinally important species of Fritillaria were described; total 122 compounds have been identified as results only 72 chemical constituents were described with proper chemical and biological details. F. thunbergii and its bulbs mainly constitute alkaloids, essential oils, diterpenoids, carbohydrates, sterols, amino acids, nucleosides, fatty acids, and lignans. The pharmacological studies demonstrate that F. thunbergii and its bulbs displays a wide range of bioactivities e.g., anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antitussive, expectorant, anti-ulcer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-thyroid, regulation of blood rheology, anti-diarrhea, neuroprotection, and analgesic effects. Although promising reports on the various chemical bioactive constituents and biological properties of F. thunbergii have been published, very few reviews are related specifically to the traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological applications. Further, various other studies on these plants should deserve our more attention for future investigation for drug development and its therapeutic applications.

Solid acids assisted matrix solid-phase dispersion microextraction of alkaloids by capillary electrophoresis coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

The quantification of three alkaloids is important because quantitative study is a means of assessing the reliability of the experimental method, and three alkaloids of peimine, peiminine, and peimisine are main active ingredients in Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2015. An effective method based on the matrix solid-phase dispersion microextraction was developed for the extraction of alkaloid compounds in Fritillariae Thunbergii Bulbus. Target analytes were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The optimized experimental condition was that 50 mg Fritillariae Thunbergii Bulbus was blended homogeneously with 10 mg citric acid for 5 min. Two hundred microliters of water acidized by 1 mol/L hydrochloric acid (pH = 4.5) was selected to elute tested alkaloids. The results demonstrated that the investigated method had low limits of detection (1.32-1.59 ng/mL), good recoveries (86.63-98.12%), and reproducibility (relative standard deviations of peak areas < 0.87%). The proposed matrix solid-phase dispersion microextraction coupled with capillary electrophoresis combined with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was successfully applied for the extraction of alkaloids in plants.

High altitude species, high profits: Can the trade in wild harvested Fritillaria cirrhosa (Liliaceae) be sustained?

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don bulbs contain alkaloids and are one of the most intensively exploited alpine Himalayan medicinal species. In terms of proprietary medicines, our study shows that 210 F. cirrhosa products are offered by 46 suppliers, most of which (44) are situated in China and two in Nepal. A widespread commercial use is as one of the main ingredients in cough syrups. A well known example is "Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa Herbal Cough & Throat Syrup", which typically contains more F. cirrhosa than any other herbal ingredient in the formulation. The biggest market for F. cirrhosa bulbs is China, where demand exceeds supply of this wild harvested species for use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Cross-border trade from Nepal to China occurs in significant quantities. Bhutan also imports F. cirrhosa bulbs from Nepal. In addition, F. cirrhosa is registered as an active ingredient in traditional herbal medicinal preparations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. There is also an export trade in F. cirrhosa to Europe. Assessing how much F. cirrhosa is traded is complex, however, due to a "look-alike" challenge, as nine Chinese Fritillaria species are traded in Europe (Fritillaria cirrhosa, F. delavayi, F. hupehensis, F. pallidiflora, F. przewalskii, F. thunbergii, F. unibracteata, F. ussuriensis and F. walujewii).

AIMS OF THE STUDY

The aims of this review were to assess the scale of the global trade in F. cirrhosa, and to synthesise studies of the impacts of wild harvest on F. cirrhosa populations and on the extent of emerging cultivation initiatives as an alternative to wild harvest.

METHODS

Firstly, we reviewed published information on studies on impacts of wild F. cirrhosa harvest from across the geographic range of this species. Secondly, global trade data for F. cirrhosa were analysed.

RESULTS

The principal demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs is in China, where hundreds of different companies produce Fritillaria preparations. Trade data also show that in 2013, China exported over 44 tonnes of F. cirrhosa bulbs to Taiwan and 26.7 tonnes to the Republic of Korea. Extensive commercial use and limited wild stocks result in a high price (2000 - 3800 CNY per kg (around US$ 303 -560 per kg in 2017)) for F. cirrhosa bulbs. Prices of cultivated Fritillaria bulbs are much lower (600-680 CNY per kg in 2017) than wild harvested bulbs. But due to very specific growth requirements of F. cirrhosa, cultivation is not yet able to meet total demand. The consequence is continued exploitation of wild stocks. At the same time, however, an increasing proportion of the demand is met by cultivation of alternative Fritillaria species that are easier to grow than F. cirrhosa. The air-dry mass of F. cirrhosa bulbs varies between 0.0917 and 0.1116 g per bulb. This represents 8960 - 10,900 bulbs/kg or 8.9 - 10.9 million bulbs per tonne. Current demand therefore represents billions of bulbs per year.

CONCLUSIONS

Demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, particularly from China, makes this species one of the most intensively harvested alpine Himalayan medicinal bulbs. Although F. cirrhosa is listed as a Class III protected species in China, billions of these tiny, wild harvested bulbs are sold per year. Due to demand exceeding supply, the price of F. cirrhosa bulbs has increased dramatically. Between 2002 and 2017, for example, the price of wild harvested F. cirrhosa bulbs increased over nine-fold, from the equivalent of US$60 in 2002 to US$560 per kg in 2017. To date, cultivation has been unable to meet the entire market demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, although other Fritillaria species are successfully cultivated on a larger scale.

Assessment of genetic fidelity of Fritillaria dagana (Liliaceae) regenerated plants using ISSR markers

ISSR analysis of Fritillaria dagana, endangered ornamental geophyte from the Sayan Mountains, regenerated through direct gemmogenesis from bulb scale tissue was performed. More informative electrophoresis profile with clear and distinct bands was obtained at amplification with (CAC)3GC primer at 56 °C annealing. The genetic fidelity of F.dagana regenerants to maternal plants was confirmed.

Phytochemical and biological research of Fritillaria medicine resources

The genus Fritillaria is a botanical source for various pharmaceutically active components, which have been commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Increasing interest in Fritillaria medicinal resources has led to additional discoveries of steroidal alkaloids, saponins, terpenoids, glycosides and many other compounds in various Fritillaria species, and to investigations on their chemotaxonomy, molecular phylogeny and pharmacology. In continuation of studies on Fritillaria pharmacophylogeny, the phytochemistry, chemotaxonomy, molecular biology and phylogeny of Fritillaria and their relevance to drug efficacy is reviewed. Literature searching is used to characterize the global scientific effort in the flexible technologies being applied. The interrelationship within Chinese Bei Mu species and between Chinese species, and species distributed outside of China, is clarified by the molecular phylogenetic inferences based on nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences. The incongruence between chemotaxonomy and molecular phylogeny is revealed and discussed. It is essential to study more species for both the sustainable utilization of Fritillaria medicinal resources and for finding novel compounds with potential clinical utility. Systems biology and omics technologies will play an increasingly important role in future pharmaceutical research involving the bioactive compounds of Fritillaria.