Farmacja Polska (Feb 2024)
Species of Arnica - traditional uses and current directions in biotechnological research
Abstract
The medicinal use of mountain arnica (Arnica montana L.) has a long tradition in Europe and is currently confirmed by the documented biological activity of extracts from its flowers and helenalin isolated from them. The main groups of specialized metabolites found in Arnicae flos are: sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, phenolic acids. The anti-inflammatory effect that justifies most of the uses of arnica is primarily due to helenalin derivatives, which are currently being studied, among others, in terms of anticancer activity and against selected parasitic protozoa causing tropical diseases. The development of new solutions for obtaining large amounts of arnica material for the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, as well as the search for an efficient source of helenalin derivatives, is therefore justified by biological activity and the expanding range of possible medicinal applications. The high demand for plant raw materials and the prohibited collection from natural sites of strictly protected mountain arnica contributed to the optimization of the cultivation of this species, the acquisition of plant material with comparable qualitative and quantitative characteristics from other species (primarily meadow arnica), as well as the use of biotechnological methods in plant in vitro cultures. In this area, the most numerous publications concern the development of effective micro-propagation of arnica for cultivation. Biotechnological procedures used to develop methods for obtaining helenalin derivatives from plant in vitro cultures have value as the natural science research as well as economic importance and this potential may also be covered by patent protection. In this study, we present the traditional uses of mountain arnica in Europe in the 20th century and summarize the current directions of research in the 21st century, with particular emphasis on the use of plant in vitro cultures. Besides historical documents, the cited works are related to obtaining valuable plant material from arnica based on selected review publications and original research works available in publication databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect). There are also mentioned plants of other species belonging to Asteraceae family, commonly called „arnica” in the regions of Brazil or Mexico (known as: Brasilian arnica, Mexican arnica, false arnica), which are the subject of research works on detailed phytochemical analysis and biological activity, including their anti-inflammatory effect.
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