Vijai K Agnihotri
CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, India
Title: Metabolic profiling, isolation, cytotoxicity and quality assessment of Saussurea lappa from the western Himalaya, India
Biography
Biography: Vijai K Agnihotri
Abstract
Saussurea lappa (Asteraceae) is one of the best known species within the genus Saussurea, commonly known as costus and kuth. Costus roots have usage in oriental medicinal systems for curing of disorders such as asthma, diarrhea, vomit, colic, cholecystitis, cancer, arthritis, cough, indigestion, viral diseases and hepatitis. Phytochemical investigation of S. lappa roots extract resulted in the isolation of isoalantolactone, β-cyclocostunolide, α-cyclocostunolide, 4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxycinnamyl-9-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, alantolactone, sucrose and proceraursenyl acetate. The root extract, fractions and isolated compounds were tested for cytotoxic activity against A549 (human lung carcinoma) and C-6 (rat glioma) cell lines using the Sulphorhodamine B assay. Isoalantolactone and alantolactone exhibited higher cytotoxicity against these both cell lines. Beside this, S. lappa roots extract, fractions and other isolated compounds demonstrated significant cytotoxic activity hence, the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance), UPLC/MS/MS (ultra performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry) and GC-MS (gas chromatography mass spectrometry) based metabolic study on its roots and upper parts have been carried as any possible insight into the range of secondary metabolites present is highly desirable. This metabolic study resulted in identification of 82 major and minor metabolites from the upper parts and roots respectively. Higher level of biologically active sesquiterpene lactones such as alantolactone (121.7±1.5 mg g-1 dry extract) and isoalantolactone (111.7±0.6 mg g-1 dry extract) were observed in roots. Chromatographic method has been also developed for separation of active sesquiterpene lactones (isoalantolactone and alantolactone) for quality control using UPLC/MS. NMR based quantification of thirty nine components was also carried out.