Effect of edapho-climatic factors on the content, quality and efficiency of secondary metabolites in the type species Aristolochia longa L

Abstract

Abstract Many commercial pharmaceutical drugs and herbal remedies derived from medicinal plants rely on these metabolites. In this study, we investigated the influence of climatic factors and soil composition on the quantity, quality and efficiency of phenolic compounds in the typical species Aristolochia longa L. from three stations in eastern Algeria, each of which is located in a different bioclimatic stage.To characterize the chemical profile of crude methanolic extracts of three parts of Aristolochia longa L. from three different regions using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis, also, their biological and pharmacological properties were evaluated: the antioxidant capacities (DPPH., ABTS−+, CUPRAC, FRAP, β-carotene-linoleic acid bleaching assays, ability to inhibit enzymes against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and buthyrylcholinesterase (BChE)]. Secondary metabolites were extracted from leaves, stems and roots of Aristolochia longa L. The amount of polyphenols, flavonoids, flavones and flavonols were determined by colorimetric method. Various in vitro biochemical tests were performed to evaluate the antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties, the neuroprotective abilities of different extract were examined against the acetylcholinesterase and buthyrylcholinesterase enzymes. The components of the active extracts were identified by LC-MS and compared to reference substances. The antibacterial activity was evaluated using the agar disk diffusion method on reference strains of ATCC types. The results showed that Aristolochia longa L. extracts had strong antioxidant activity in all assays and a strong inhibitory effect against AChE and BChE enzymes, as well as antibacterial capacities against different strains. LC-MS analysis revealed the presence of eight phenolic compounds in methanolic extract of Aristolochia longa L. from leaves: apigenin, diosmin, quercetin, quercetine-3-glycoside, apigenin 7-O glycoside, rutin, neohesperidin and taxifolin. This work revealed significant differences in the yield sand chemical composition of leaves of Aristolochia longa L., collected from three locations in Algeria. Although the main components of the all extracts of leaves are common, however, their percentages are different. Furthermore, our study demonstrates a high variation in biological activity potentials according to parts of species and populations. This point out the importance of the geographic origin of the populations and the growing conditions which could significantly affect the composition and their biological activities.