Abstract
Sisymbrium officinale (L.) Scop. is a wild common plant of the Brassicaceae family. It is known as “the singers’ plant” for its traditional use in treating aphonia and vocal disability. Despite its wide use in herbal preparations, the molecular mechanism of action of S. officinale extracts is not known. The plant is rich in glucosinolates and isothiocyanates, which are supposed to be its active compounds. Some members of this family, in particular allylisothiocyanate, are strong agonists of the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) channel, which is involved in the somatosensory perception of pungency as well as in the nociception pathway of inflammatory pain. This study aims to isolate the glucosinolates and isothiocianates from fresh S. officinale to identify the major components and test their activity in in vitro assays with a cloned TRPA1 channel. Samples of cultivated S. officinale have been extracted and the active compounds isolated by column chromatography, HPLC and PTLC. The main components glucoputranjivin, isopropylisothiocyanate and 2-buthylisothiocianate have been tested on TRPA1. The glucosinolates glucoputranjivin and sinigrin turned out to be inactive, while isopropylisothiocyanate and 2-buthylisothiocyanate are potent agonists of TRPA1, with an EC50 in the range of the high potency natural agonists identified so far for this somatosensory channel.
Highlights
A preliminary analysis was performed with the aim of identifying the main volatile compounds and the isothiocyanates in our samples
Volatile profiles of SO plants were obtained by solid-phase micro extraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS)
For SPME sampling, fresh leaves were put in a vial and rapidly mashed and crushed, had water added, stoppered with a screw cap equipped with septa, and an SPME fiber was inserted into the sample headspace to be analyzed by GCMS
Summary
(Brassicaceae) (SO) is an annual plant which is spread mostly in the Eurasiatic Region and North Africa. It is very common in bare ground, on roadsides, dumps and on the edges of fields. The plant is the object of a multidisciplinary project named “Erisimo a Milano” studying its diffusion and ecology in North Italy, agronomic potential, phytochemistry and food applications [1]. SO ( commonly named “erysimum” or “the singers’ plant”) is known for its traditional use for vocal tract and other upper respiratory trait diseases. The chemical markers [2] of SO
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