Estimation of the influence of the environmental factors on the accumulation of phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity in the ivy leaves (Hedera helix L.).

This study aimed at evaluating the impact of environmental factors on the accumulation of various components in Hedera helix L. folium collected from different European countries. The obtained results of studied samples showed that the antioxidant capacities were in the range of 0.027 to 0.688 mg/g. Contents of active components varied: phenolic acids - from 0.033 up to 2.92 gallic acid equivalents mg/g, flavonoids - from 0.031 to 0.281 mg/g and hederacoside C - 13.54-109.458 mg g-1 DW. Samples from the northern countries had higher amounts of all phytochemicals in comparison to the southern ones. Among all studied parameters, the duration of sunshine, soil and climate had the most significant influence on the accumulation of components in ivy raw materials while altitude and precipitations showed none impact. Hedera helix can be considered as an excellent source of triterpene saponins, flavonoids and phenolic acids, and growing it at the right conditions may significantly enhance the quality of its raw material for medicinal purposes.

Development of a New Approach for Standardization of the Herb Centaurium erythraea Rafn. by High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was the development a new, fully validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the quantitative analysis of secoiridoid glycosides by an active marker swertiamarin in the herb Centaurium erythraea Rafn. The article describes a new approach to the standardization of C. erythraea and more specifically the development of a new validated HPLC method for the quantitative determination of secoiridoid glycosides by swertiamarin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quantitative determination of swertiamarin was performed in isocratic mode on a Symmetry C18 column using water and acetonitrile as solvents for the mobile phase. RESULTS: Validation characteristics of the developed method showed that it was linear in the whole range of concentrations from 0.01 mg/mL to 0.05 mg/mL swertiamarin. All validation characteristics met the established acceptance criteria. CONCLUSION: This method can be used in the standardization of raw materials, as well as in the analysis of medicinal products and dietary supplements that include C. erythraea. The established chromatographic method was successfully applied for the analysis of raw materials of C. erythraea with the quantitative content determination of swertiamarin in the analyzed samples.