Determination of bioactive compounds with benefic potential on health in several medicinal plants

摘要

Several bioactive compounds from plants like Chelidonium majus, Equisetum arvense and Hypericum perforatum are well known for their potential benefic effects on human and animal health. However, few data on the effect of these plants on various ocular diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataracts, glaucoma have been reported. The purpose of this study was to investigate the content of several bioactive compounds (lutein and zeaxanthin, vitamin E and zinc) from twelve medicinal plants, known for their antioxidant activity. Four of these herbs are known for their pharmacological effects in inflammatory eye disorders, and the rest of them are plants with yellow flowers recommended in treatments of other diseases like cardiovascular, liver, skin, nervous disorders. The plants characterization regarding the lutein and zeaxanthin content was performed by developing and validating a HPLC method. The processing of the results was done using the Multi- Criteria Decision Analysis (MDCA) in order to make choices taking into account multiple criteria simultaneously. The results of the study showed that Calendula officinalis, Chelidonium majus, Equisetum arvense and Hypericum perforatum were the plants with the four highest total ranking scores, the last three of them not being used in treating eye disorders. Calendula officinalis had 5.239 + 0.19 mg/100 g lutein and zeaxanthin, 168.68 + 5.06 ug/mL vitamin E and 32.13 + 0.73 ug/mL Zn. These results provide scientific support for using these plants in the treatment of eye disorders.