New advances for an improved content of Sweroside and Swertiamarin in cultivated Gentiana lutea L. var. aurantiaca roots

Gentian lutea L. var. aurantiaca is an endemic plant growing in the northwestern mountains of the Iberian Peninsula. Its roots are mainly used in the elaboration of liquors and medicinal products due to the high concentration in bitter compounds. Novel medicinal properties described for the sweroside [1] and swertiamarine [2] and the increasing demand, encourage for a stable source of high quality roots.

The evolution patterns on the content of sweroside and swertiamarine in the roots of cultivated G. lutea var. aurantiaca have been studied. Methanolic extracts of complete root systems collected in spring and autumn during three consecutive years were analyzed by HPLC, evaluating the effect of the age and development (weight) of the roots in the content of the cited compounds.

The evolution of the content for both compounds was widely different. Analyzing the data by a linear regression model, the obtained R-squared (R²) for the swertiamarin was 0.9549 and 0.6223 for the sweroside. These results show how the evolution in the content of swertiamarin is not dependent on the age and weight of the roots. On the other hand, sweroside content is random, but not dependent on the age or the weight.

These results suggest that the architecture of the root systems play an important role in the content of sweroside, since a higher concentration of this compound is in the cortex tissues [3]. Further research must be conducted in order to improve the quality of gentian roots.

• References

• 1 Ma LQ, Yu Y, Chen H, Li M, Ihsan A, Tong HY. et al. Sweroside Alleviated Aconitine-Induced Cardiac Toxicity in H9c2 Cardiomyoblast Cell Line. Front Pharmacol 2018; 9: 1138
• 2 Wang H, Wei W, Lan X, Liu N, Li Y, Ma H. et al. Neuroprotective Effect of Swertiamain on Cerebral Ischemia / Reperfusion Injury by Inducing the Nrf2 Protective Pathway. ACS Chem Neurosci 2019; 10: 2276-2286
• 3 González-López Ó, Mayo S, Rodríguez-González Á, Carro-Huerga G, Suárez Villanueva V, Berninger T, Casquero PA. Distribution of secoiridoid glycosides in the root system of the medicinal plant Gentiana lutea L. subsp. aurantiaca. PMIO 2017; 4: Tu-PO-187