Abstract
<p>The influence of an <em>Uncaria tomentosa </em>extract on the development of <em>Capsicum </em>plants grown in green-house conditions was examined. The effect of the treatment was investigated with microscopic techniques (light and electron microscope) in leaves from three levels of control plants and plants after treatment with the extract added to the soil in doses of 0.4 and 16 mg/ml (200 ml per pot/plant). In control leaves, changes typical of the subsequent phases of normal development were observed: nuclear chromatin became slightly condensed, plastoglobuli of chloroplasts increased in number and size, intragranal thylakoids were somewhat dilatated. In addition to such commonly occurring changes, some symptoms typical of pepper were observed in the ontogenesis of the examined plant: an increased number of spherical electron-dense deposits in vacuoles, an increased number of peroxisomes, the occurrence of numerous paracrystalline structures in chloroplasts of mature leaves, and, starting in mature leaves, expulsion of plastoglobuli from chloroplasts.</p><p>After the treatment, most of those changes, leading to ageing, occurred much earlier and were more distinct. Chloroplasts, already in the youngest examined leaves, showed dilatation of intergranal thylakoids, which intensified with aging of the leaves and degradation of grana in the oldest leaves. Starch grains decreased in size and number and plastoglobuli became large. Vesiculation of ground cytoplasm in all leaves was stronger than in the control. No paracrystalline structures in chloroplasts or expulsion of plastoglobuli were observed. Another unusual phenomenon was the disappearance of spherical electron-dense deposits in the central vacuoles of cells.</p><p>Those observations suggested that <em>U. tomentosa </em>extract enhanced the natural ontogenesis of <em>Capsicum annuum </em>leaves, by accelerating and enhancing the typical characteristics of ageing, and, additionally, it changed the structure and physiology of cells.</p>
Highlights
Uncaria tomentosa (Willdenow ex Roemer and Shultes) DC., from Rubiacae family, is a liana growing wildly in the jungles of South and Central America
We examined the influence of U. tomentosa bark extracts on Capsicum annuum plants, and in particular on the ultrastructure of their leaf cells, which in a relatively short time progress from the phase of initiation, through physiological maturity, to aging and apoptic death
Choosing Capsicum as the test material, we wanted to gain information regarding changes to the growth and development processes resulting from prolonged influence of Uncaria tomentosa bark extract on the whole plant, which constitutes a certain analogy to the way of its action on human organism in therapeutic conditions
Summary
Uncaria tomentosa (Willdenow ex Roemer and Shultes) DC., from Rubiacae family, is a liana growing wildly in the jungles of South and Central America. It is known as vilcacora, una de gato or cats claw and it stirs up the interest of investigators representing numerous fields, from physicians through pharmacologists to economists. The most important group of biologically active substances occurring in U. tomentosa is a group of alkaloids, which are important therapeutic compounds of plant origin. U. tomentosa extract contains other pharmacologically active compounds, such as proantocya-
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