Amino acids and trace elements from Callisia fragrans

Abstract

Callisia fragrans Wood. (Commelinoceae) is a cultivated plant, the fresh leaves and runners of which are used as raw material for producing juice that possesses, judging from experimental results, pronounced adaptogenic and motor-protective activity and contains harmless compounds [1]. The contents of neutral, glycoand phospholipids and their fatty acids, ascorbic acid, organic acids, chlorophyll, and carotinoids in various plant organs have been reported [2]. The phenolic composition of the plant has been studied [3]. Our goal was to determine the amino-acid and mineral composition of C. fragrans juice. Raw material was grown in industrial plots of the Russian Research Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (VILAR, Moscow). Fresh runners (100 g) were ground in a blender. The resulting pulp was filtered through cotton tissue to produce juice (86 mL) of density 1.005 g/cm3. The resulting juice (20 mL) was placed in a Soxhlet apparatus and purified of lipophilic substances using CHCl3 (100 mL) for 2 h on a water bath. The purified juice was treated with lithium-citrate buffer (pH 2.2). Proteins were precipitated by sulfosalicylic acid solution (0.1 mL, 30%). Samples were centrifuged and analyzed for amino acids on an AAA 339 analyzer (Czech Rep.). The qualitative composition of amino acids was determined by retention time using a standard mixture consisting of 24 amino acids as references. The quantitative content of amino acids was calculated in μg/mL of juice using peak areas as the parameter. Table 1 lists the results. Bound amino acids were determined after acid hydrolysis by HCl solution (6 N) at 110°C for 24 h. We found 15 free amino acids including 6 essential ones. A total of 14 bound amino acids was observed, of which 7 were essential. The mineral composition was determined on a DFS-8 spectrograph with a planar diffraction grating using spectral emission analysis. Runners of C. fragrans contained 11 elements (Table 2). The plant accumulates moderate levels of Ba, Mn, and Cu [4].