Arnica montana Cell Culture Establishment, and Assessment of Its Cytotoxic, Antibacterial, α-Amylase Inhibitor, and Antioxidant In Vitro Bioactivities.

Aurelio Nieto-Trujillo,Angélica Román-Guerrero,Rosendo Luria-Pérez,Cristina Burrola-Aguilar,Gabriel Alfonso Gutiérrez-Rebolledo,Francisco Cruz-Sosa,María Elena Estrada-Zúñiga,Carmen Zepeda-Gómez

doi:10.3390/plants10112300

Abstract

Arnica montana cell suspension culture could be a sustainable source of a vegetal material producer of secondary metabolites (SMs) possessing biological effects. Different plant growth regulator concentrations (0–5 mg/L) were tested in foliar explants to induce a callus that was used to establish a cell suspension culture. Growth kinetics was carried out for 30 days. A methanolic extract obtained from biomass harvested at 30 days of growth kinetics was fractionated, and three fractions were tested for bioactivities. We induced a callus with 1 mg/L of picloram and 0.5 mg/L of kinetin in foliar explants, which allowed for the establishment of a cell suspension culture, and the latter had the highest total SMs contents at day 30. Three fractions showed differences in total SMs contents, with the highest values per gram as follows: 270 mg gallic acid equivalent for total phenolic content, 200 mg quercetin equivalent for total flavonoid content, 83 mg verbascoside equivalent for total phenolic acid content, and 396 mg parthenolide equivalent for total sesquiterpene lactone content. The best bioactivities were 2–6 µg/mL for the 50% inhibition of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical, 30% cellular viability of lymphoma cells at 40 µg/mL, 17% inhibition against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus at 8 µg/disk, and α-amylase inhibition at 12% with 10 µg/mL. The total SMs contents were correlated with bioactivities.

Highlights

Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) is, globally, one of the most important medicinal plants, and for centuries, different parts of this plant have been used in ethnomedicine for many treatments, such as for osteoarthritis, bowel ache, cough, contusion, cuts, hematoma, headache, and rheumatism
Plants 2021, 10, 2300 (IAA), or cytokinin: 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and kinetin (KIN), or their combination, in foliar explants of A. montana significantly caused callus and root formation after 30 days of exposure, and this depended on type and concentration of tested plant growth regulators (PGRs)
PIC was a potent PGR for inducing a callus since it significantly promoted a high percentage of induction (100%), regardless of the tested concentration (0.5–5 mg/L) (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) is, globally, one of the most important medicinal plants, and for centuries, different parts of this plant have been used in ethnomedicine for many treatments, such as for osteoarthritis, bowel ache, cough, contusion, cuts, hematoma, headache, and rheumatism. Research has supported these medicinal uses through scientific pharmacological and phytochemical reports [1,2,3]. This species is pharmacologically recognized for its strong anti-inflammatory activity, but it possesses other outstanding bioactivities such as immune-modulatory, anti-sclerotic, analgesic, antifungal, antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticancer [2,3]. Wild plant populations are resources of important genetic diversity in Europe and globally. Commercial demand for different products prepared from this medicinal plant [11] has increased the plant-material requirements of the pharmaceutical industry, leading to the overexploitation and eradication of its wild plant populations, so it is a vulnerable or threatened species with a risk of extinction [12]. For commercial and bioethical reasons, it is important to sustainably supply the plant material [4,12,13]

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