Multi-development-HPTLC method for quantitation of hyoscyamine, scopolamine and their biosynthetic precursors in selected solanaceae plants grown in natural conditions and as in vitro cultures

INTRODUCTION

Hyoscyamine and scopolamine, anti-cholinergic agents widely used in medicine, are typically obtained from plants grown under natural conditions. Since field cultivation entails certain difficulties (changeable weather, pests, etc.), attempts have been made to develop a plant in vitro culture system as an alternative source for the production of these compounds. During experiments to locate the limiting steps in the biotechnological procedure, it is important to monitor not only the levels of the final products but also the changes in the concentration of their precursors.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a HPTLC method for the separation and quantitation of the main tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine and scopolamine, their respective direct precursors littorine and anisodamine, and cuscohygrine, a product of a parallel biosynthetic pathway that shares a common precursor (N-methyl-∆(1) -pyrrolium cation) with tropane alkaloids.

METHODS

Using alkaloid extracts from Atropa baetica hairy roots, different TLC chromatographic systems and developing procedures were investigated.

RESULTS

Full separation of all compounds was obtained on HPTLC Si60 F254 plates preconditioned with mobile phase vapours (chloroform:methanol:acetone:25% ammonia ratios of 75:15:10:1.8, v/v/v/v). The chromatograms were developed twice (at distances of 4.0 and 3.0 cm) in a Camag twin trough chamber and visualised with Dragendorff's reagent. Densitometric detection (λ = 190 and 520 nm) was used for quantitative analyses of the different plant samples.

CONCLUSION

This method can be recommended for quantitation of hyoscyamine, scopolamine, anisodamine, littorine and cuscohygrine in different plant material (field grown vs. in vitro cultures).

Improvement of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Production in Echium acanthocarpum Transformed Hairy Root Cultures by Application of Different Abiotic Stress Conditions

Fatty acids are of great nutritional, therapeutic, and physiological importance, especially the polyunsaturated n-3 fatty acids, possessing larger carbon chains and abundant double bonds or their immediate precursors. A few higher plant species are able to accumulate these compounds, like those belonging to the Echium genus. Here, the novel E. acanthocarpum hairy root system, which is able to accumulate many fatty acids, including stearidonic and α-linolenic acids, was optimized for a better production. The application of abiotic stress resulted in larger yields of stearidonic and α-linolenic acids, 60 and 35%, respectively, with a decrease in linoleic acid, when grown in a nutrient medium consisting of B5 basal salts, sucrose or glucose, and, more importantly, at a temperature of 15°C. The application of osmotic stress employing sorbitol showed no positive influence on the fatty acid yields; furthermore, the combination of a lower culture temperature and glucose did not show a cumulative boosting effect on the yield, although this carbon source was similarly attractive. The abiotic stress also influenced the lipid profile of the cultures, significantly increasing the phosphatidylglycerol fraction but not the total lipid neither their biomass, proving the appropriateness of applying various abiotic stress in this culture to achieve larger yields.

The lupane-type triterpene 30-oxo-calenduladiol is a CCR5 antagonist with anti-HIV-1 and anti-chemotactic activities

The existence of drug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viruses in patients receiving antiretroviral treatment urgently requires the characterization and development of new antiretroviral drugs designed to inhibit resistant viruses and to complement the existing antiretroviral strategies against AIDS. We assayed several natural or semi-synthetic lupane-type pentacyclic triterpenes in their ability to inhibit HIV-1 infection in permissive cells. We observed that the 30-oxo-calenduladiol triterpene, compound 1, specifically impaired R5-tropic HIV-1 envelope-mediated viral infection and cell fusion in permissive cells, without affecting X4-tropic virus. This lupane derivative competed for the binding of a specific anti-CCR5 monoclonal antibody or the natural CCL5 chemokine to the CCR5 viral coreceptor with high affinity. 30-oxo-calenduladiol seems not to interact with the CD4 antigen, the main HIV receptor, or the CXCR4 viral coreceptor. Our results suggest that compound 1 is a specific CCR5 antagonist, because it binds to the CCR5 receptor without triggering cell signaling or receptor internalization, and inhibits RANTES (regulated on activation normal T cell expressed and secreted)-mediated CCR5 internalization, intracellular calcium mobilization, and cell chemotaxis. Furthermore, compound 1 appeared not to interact with beta-chemokine receptors CCR1, CCR2b, CCR3, or CCR4. Thereby, the 30-oxo-calenduladiol-associated anti-HIV-1 activity against R5-tropic virus appears to rely on the selective occupancy of the CCR5 receptor to inhibit CCR5-mediated HIV-1 infection. Therefore, it is plausible that the chemical structure of 30-oxo-calenduladiol or other related dihydroxylated lupane-type triterpenes could represent a good model to develop more potent anti-HIV-1 molecules to inhibit viral infection by interfering with early fusion and entry steps in the HIV life cycle.

Cloning, characterization and analysis of expression profiles of a cDNA encoding a hyoscyamine 6beta-hydroxylase (H6H) from Atropa baetica Willk

A new cDNA encoding hyoscyamine 6beta-hydroxylase (H6H, EC 1.14.11.11), a bifunctional enzyme catalyzing the last two steps in the biosynthesis of scopolamine, was isolated from Atropa baetica roots (GenBank accession no. EF442802). The full cDNA sequence showed an ORF of 1035bp, coding for a protein with 344 amino acid residues. Sequence analyses at the nucleotide level showed that this ORF shares high identity with other H6H from different plant species, such as Anisodus tanguticus and Hyoscyamus niger with 90% identity, and an almost total identity with A. belladonna (98%). Tissue expression analyses showed that the gene transcript was tissue dependent, appearing exclusively in roots, thus being the only biosynthetic site for the production of scopolamine. Furthermore, Southern hybridization experiments revealed that this gene was not part of a multigene family as appears in low copy number. Phylogenetic tree analysis indicated that A. baetica H6H had a very close relationship with A. belladonna and to a lesser extent with H. niger.

Studies on tropane alkaloid extraction by volatile organic solvents: dichloromethane vs. chloroform

In order to investigate the production of tropane alkaloids by hairy roots of Atropa baetica, transgenic for the gene h6h encoding the enzyme hyoscyamine 6beta-hydroxylase, solvent extraction with chloroform and with dichloromethane of the metabolites present in the liquid medium and in the root tissue was compared. The extraction of scopolamine from the liquid medium was equally effective with either solvent, giving maximum values of around 850 microg/flask. For the roots, three different extraction methods were employed: A, employing chloroform:methanol: (25%) ammonia (15:5:1) for initial extraction, followed by treatment with sulfuric acid and ammonia, and using chloroform for the final extraction and washes; B, as A but using dichloromethane for extraction and washes; and C, as B but substituting chloroform for dichloromethane in the extraction cocktail. Scopolamine was the most abundant metabolite (present in amounts of 3250-3525 microg/g dry weight) and presented similar extraction efficiencies with all of the extraction methods employed. The highest amounts of hyoscyamine and the intermediate 6beta-hydxoxyhyoscyamine were present on day 31 (800 and 975 microg/g dry weight, respectively) and no statistical differences between the three extraction methods employed were detected. This study confirms that, for the extraction of tropane alkaloids, dichloromethane can replace the commonly employed chloroform, the use of which incurs major health, security and regulation problems.