Planta Med 2012; 78 - PI316
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1321003

Hypericum foliosum leaf – Chromatographic fingerprint of a promising antidepressant medicinal plant

A Machado 1, N Ramalhete 1, R Serrano 1, JL Wolfender 2, ET Gomes 1, O Silva 1
  • 1iMed.UL, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon, Av. Professor Gama Pinto, 1649–019 Lisbon, Portugal
  • 2School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, EPGL, University of Geneva, University of Lausanne, 30, Quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Hypericum foliosum leaf is an endemic species of the Azores archipelago that in previous studies was showed a promising antidepressant activity, similar to the activity of St. John's Wort, a well-established herbal medicine belonging to the same botanical family and used as antidepressant in Europe. Hereby we present results of the analytical studies performed in order to obtain the chromatographic fingerprint of the active H. foliosum aerial part extract and of most active fractions obtained from this (methanol and ethyl ether ones).

Obtained results of the analytical studies performed by TLC, LC-UV/DAD and LC-DAD/MS in the methanolic fraction permitted the identification of its phenol acids and flavonoid constituents, as main compounds, namely quinic acid, 3,4-dimethylbenzoic acid, (+)catechin, chlorogenic acid, quercetin-3-O-sulphate, miquelianin, xanthone and biapigenin.