Chemical characterization and chemotaxonomy of Hypericum hirsutum L. 1753 from Vojvodina (Serbia)

Abstract

The genus Hypericum includes over 500 widely distributed species. The main representative is St. John?s wort (Hypericum perforatum L. (1753), Hypericaceae), the only approved biological source of Hyperici herba by WHO and EMEA monographs. It is frequently used in the form of oil macerate for treatment of burns, scars, eczema and gas?trointestinal disorders, as well as in the form of water and alcoholic extracts as clinically proved antidepressant. Available data suggest that the amounts of secondary metabolites in the plant vary depending on ecological factors of the habitat, and consequently affect the quality of herbal drug. The reports show that other species of the genus have similar chemical profile as H. perforatum. But, there are also Hypericum species in which some of the secondary metabolites of interest occur in higher quantities than in H. perforatum. As previous data suggest, Hypericum hirsutum L. 1753, could be such example. Therefore, the aim of this study was to chemically characterize water-alcoholic extracts of H. hirsutum samples, collected at four localities in Vojvodina (Republic of Serbia) by liquid chromatography (HPLC-DAD). The obtained results suggest a good match (in a term of a presence of investigated compounds) of previously published results describing chemical profile of H. perforatum water-alcoholic extracts with examined H. hirsutum extracts. Also, chemotaxonomic analysis showed variations in quantity of secondary metabolites in the examined extracts. This opens the door to further investigation of H. hirsutum as a new source of bioactive secondary metabolites and additional markers in Hypericum chemotaxonomy.