Rudjer Boskovic Institute
Bijenicka cesta 54
10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Web: www.irb.hr
Partner Institution/Company:
Washington State University, Institute of Biological Chemistry
Grant type:
2A
Project title:
Identification of bioactive metabolites in medicinal plants and there In vitro propagation
Project summary:
Medicinal plants have been used in the pharmaceutical industry and traditional medicine for several millennia but only about 6% of higher plant species have been screened for biologic activity, of which only 15% have been evaluated phytochemicaly. The purpose of this visit is to establish optimized extraction protocols for bioactive metabolites (belonging to the terpenoid and coumarin classes) from rare medicinal plants relevant to human health and develop optimized chromatographic conditions for their analysis and mass spectral characterization (using LC-MS-QToF, LC-IonTrap-MS). Applicant will also attempt to develop a method for in vitro propagation of the medicinal plant Tripterygium regellii with the aim of producing cultures that will yield higher concentrations of bioactive diterpene triptolide and related compounds, currently under investigation for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive potential. Acquired knowledge will be used for future research of the biological potential of Croatian medicinal plants. Furthermore the tissue culture methods should greatly aid in the attempts to conserve rare and endangered species through in vitro culturing.
Hrvatski sažetak:
Medicinske biljke upotrebljavaju se u farmaceutskoj industriji i u tradicionalnoj medicini već stoljećima, no samo je u 6% viših biljnih vrsta ispitana biološka aktivnost, a u 15% su određene fitokemikalije. Cilj ovog projekta je optimizirati protokole ekstrakcije za izolaciju bioaktivnih metabolita (terpenoida i kumarina) iz rijetkih medicinskih biljaka te optimizirati kromatografske uvjete za njihovo analiziranje i karakterizaciju uz pomoć masenih detektora (LC-MS-QToF, LC-IonTrap-MS). Također, cilj projekta je razviti metodu za in vitro propaganaciju medicinske biljke Tripterygium regellii koja bi davala veći prinos diterpena triptolida i drugih bioaktivnih komponenti koje pokazuju protuupalna i imunosupresivna svojstva. Usvojena znanja u budućnosti će se koristiti za istraživanje biološki aktivnih spojeva u hrvatskim medicinskim biljkama. Također metode kulture tkiva koje će biti usvojene u ovom projektu pomoći će u očuvanju rijetkih i ugroženih vrsta kroz uzgoj in vitro.
