Planta Med 2011; 77 - PL29
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282678

Quantitative Determination of Lycorine in Galanthus xvalentinei nothosubsp. subplicatus

N Unver Somer 1, D Cicek Polat 1, MA Onur 1, G Kaya 1
  • 1Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ege University, Bornova-Izmir, 35100, Turkey

Galanthus xvalentinei (J. Allen) Beck nothosubsp. subplicatus (N. Zeybek) A. P. Davis (Amaryllidaceae) is a hybrid between G. nivalis L. and G. plicatus M. Bieb. subsp. byzantinus (Baker) D. A. Webb. This Galanthus L. hybrid is endemic and it occurs naturally in north-western Turkey [1,2]. Lycorine, a common alkaloid found in Amaryllidaceae plants, has been shown to possess important biological activities including antiviral [3], cytotoxic [4] and antimalarial activities [5]. In the present study, a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method has been used for the quantitative determination of lycorine in the aerial parts and bulbs of G. xvalentinei nothosubsp. subplicatus [6]. A simple method for the extraction of lycorine in low-mass plant samples was employed utilizing pre-packed columns with diatomaceous earth (Extrelut®) [7]. The chromatographic separation was carried out using an isocratic system with a mobile phase of trifluoroacetic acid-water-acetonitrile (0.01: 95: 5) applied at a flow rate of 1mL min-1 using diode array dedector. The linearity of the method was studied by injecting five known concentrations of lycorine in the range of 0.5–8µg mL-1. The calibration curve for lycorine was determined as Y=14.9668622x + 0.7717199. The content of lycorine in the bulbs of G. xvalentinei nothosubsp. subplicatus was found to be 0.0028%. Lycorine was not detected in the aerial parts of this hybrid.

Acknowledgement: This study was financially supported by Ege University Research Fund (09/ECZ/037) and partially supported by TUBITAK (TBAG-104T272) and EBILTEM (2007-BIL-007).

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2. Davis A (2006) The Genus Galanthus-Snowdrops in the Wild, in Bishop M., Davis A.P., Grimshaw J. (Eds.), Snowdrops, A Monograph of Cultivated Galanthus. Griffin Press Publishing Ltd. Cheltenham.

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6. Mustafa NR et al. (2003)J Liq Chromatogr R T 26:3217–3233.

7. Berkov S et al. (2008) Phytochem Anal 19: 285–293.