Phytochemical Analysis of Wild and In vitro Raised Plants of Rheum Species Using HPLC

Abstract

The plants are micro-biosynthetic factories for variety of compounds which are their secondary metabolites. These mainly include alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, volatile oils, saponins, etc. The medicinal properties are attributed to the specific bioactive compound or combination of phytochemicals. In present study, Phytochemical analysis of two Rheum species namely, Rheum spiciforme and Rheum webbianum was carried out using different plant parts from wild populations and also from tissue culture raised plants derived from these wild populations. Anthraquinone derivatives including emodin, aloe-emodin and rhein was quantified in analysed plant parts using HPLC method and a comparative analysis was done. The analyzed samples showed presence of various alkaloids, carbohydrates, proteins and tannins. Furthermore, Rheum spp. are shown to contain emodin, aloe-emodin and rhein as main active principles. Among the various populations of R. spiciforme maximum yield of aloe-emodin and Rhein was detected in Chakwali population while maximum amount of emodin was found in Dahi nala. Similarly, in R. webbianum maximum yield of aloe-emodin and rhein was detected in Panzila top population while maximum amount of emodin was found in Tangsti population. The different regenerants from tissue cultured plants showed very low yield of these active compounds as compared to wild populations in both the species. The reported contents of different phytochemicals can be useful in determination of best chemotypes which will be significant for the future use of these chemotypes in pharmaceutical industries.