How to characterize three caryophyllaceous species by the mean of the ratio of two glucuronide prosaponins?

Abstract

Three main Caryophyllaceae species, Gypsophila paniculata L., Saponaria officinalis L. and Silene vulgaris (Moench) Garcke, were compared. A biological test carried on the root saponin extracts showed that S. officinalis extract was the least haemolytic and that G. paniculata extract was the most haemolytic of the three species. After a mild acid hydrolysis of the root saponins, quillaic acid 3-O-glucuronide (1) and gypsogenin 3-O-glucuronide (2), two representative prosaponins of the Caryophyllaceae, were quantified by HPLC. The content of 1 was the highest in the roots of S. vulgaris (16.2 ± 0.5 mg/g dry weight) and that of 2 was the highest in the roots of G. paniculata (30.2 ± 1.5 mg/g dry weight). S. vulgaris contained the most balanced amounts of the two prosaponins: 56% of 1 and 44% of 2. G. paniculata contained 22% of 1 and 78% of 2 whereas the relative proportions of the two prosaponins were reversed in S. officinalis: 94% of 1 and 6% of 2.