Planta Med 2015; 81 - PM_60
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1565437

Greek Iris species as sources of agents potentially effective in bone metabolism

M Makropoulou 1, 2, C Karakasi 1, N Aligiannis 1, E Kalpoutzakis 1, AL Skaltsounis 1, M Alexis 2, S Mitakou 1
  • 1Department of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry, University of Athens, 157 71, Athens, Greece
  • 2Institute of Biology, Medicinal Chemistry and Biotechnology, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 11635, Athens, Greece

Osteoporosis is a potentially crippling disease and a major cause of morbidity in the elderly, women in particular. Treatment of osteoporosis mainly includes hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with estrogen and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs, raloxifene). Since, HRT is characterized by high breast and uterine cancer risk, with other therapies being less effective, the discovery of new remedies remains a goal. Even the beneficial effects of plants in bone health hade been known since the ancient Greek physicians (e.g. Dioscorides) and Greece is one of the richest floral diversity regions, there are scarcely any reports connecting Greek flora herbs with prevention of osteoporosis. Aim of our study is to identify and characterize plant derived extracts and isolated compounds that are potentially capable of safely preventing postmenopausal osteoporosis. Based on traditional medicine sources and current literature, 65 plant species were selected and 130 extracts were prepared using several techniques (ASE, MAE, SFE). Phytochemical profiling provided 80 extracts for further biological evaluation and preliminary results revealed that the extracts from three different species of genus Iris (I. germanica, I. attica and I. unguicularis ssp. cretensis) are capable to induce MC3T3-E1 differentiation to osteoblasts, with I. germanica extracts being the most promising one. Since differentiation of MC3T3-E1 is promoted beyond others by estrogens, the estrogenic activity of extracts was determined using MCF7 and Ishikawa cell line and all extracts, except EtOAc extract of I. unguicularis ssp. cretensis, lacking estrogenic activity. Furthermore, the isolation of the major compounds from I. germanica was performed and the structure elucidation was implemented mainly by NMR spectroscopy. Among the isolated compounds, isoflavone derivatives (irigenin, irisflorentine), benzophenones (iriflophenone), acetophenones and iridales derivatives were identified.