Analysis of aucubin and catalpol content in different plant parts of four <i>Globularia</i> species

Abstract

Iridoids are plant secondary metabolites that are gaining more scientific interest due to the wide range of their observed biological activities such as neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective and cardioprotective. The presence and content of aucubin and catalpol, two iridoid glucosides frequently present in iridoid-containing plants, was studied in methanolic extracts of leaves, flowers, woody stems and underground parts of four Globularia L. species, including the medicinal plant Globularia alypum L., using a specific and reliable HPLC-DAD-ESI/MS method. Aucubin was found in all four species, while catalpol was found only in G. alypum and G. punctata. Flowers contained the highest amounts of investigated iridoids, with catalpol content reaching 1.6% in G. punctata flowers. Comparing to the medicinal plant G. alypum, related species contained higher amounts of investigated iridoids, which makes them interesting candidates for further biological activity investigations. The online version of this article (doi: 10.5073/JABFQ.2015.088.030) contains supplementary files.