Chemical characterization of plant material and in vitro-generated sprouts of Genista monspessulana

Abstract

Genista monspessulana (known in Colombia as “retamo liso”) is considered an invasive plant in the Bogotá plateu. Genista genus is known for its high content of products with multi-pharmacological activity, e.g. antioxidant and phytoestrogenic, which has drawn attention for its potential use in preventive medicine. As part of our research on phenolic compounds, the present study shows the chemical characterization and radical scavenging capacity (RSC) of extracts from leaves, flowers, stems, pods and seeds of G. monspessulana as well as in vitro-germinated sprouts. Each extract was characterized by total phenolics and flavonoid contents and by UFLC-DAD analyses. The RSC was evaluated by using the DPPH assay. Total contents of phenolics and flavonoids showed values between 50 – 500 mg GAE/g dry extract and 8 – 14 mg QE/g dry extract, respectively. RSC values (IC50 in µg/mL) were found to be between 4 and 40 µg/mL range. The pod-derived extract was found to be the most potent scavenger. In addition, the in vitro cultures in order to germinate G. monspessulana seeds were carried out in MS medium supplemented with indole acetic acid (IAA) and kinetin at three different concentrations with the aim to observe the promoter-induced chemical variability. The in vitro seed germination percentage exposed to IAA was larger than that of kinetin (45% at second week). Resulting sprouts were extracted with ethanol, and the crude extracts were analyzed by UFLC-DAD. These profiles showed some differences, including distinctive compounds. The multivariate analysis (as PCA-derived score plots) performed on chromatographic data indicated that extracts exhibit characteristic metabolic profiles associated with each part and/or promoter, which provide the basis for future studies on bioproduction and isolation of phenolics from this plant.