Resolving Identification Issues of Saraca asoca from Its Adulterant and Commercial Samples Using Phytochemical Markers

Investigating potent cardioprotective compounds as ACE inhibitors in Saraca asoca

Saraca asoca is a traditional medicinal plant whose all plant parts are exceptionally effective in terms of antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-carcinogenic, free radical scavenging,anti-arthritic, and hypolipidemic properties. As cardio-vascular problems occur for many reasons, antioxidants with free radical scavenging properties of plants and herbs are highly effective in treating cardio-related disorders. Though Saraca asoca has been preferred as a tonic and medicinal supplement for women's health, because of the huge variety of bioactive compounds, Saraca asoca needs to be explored for its cardio-protective properties. This review aims to summarize the in vivo and in vitro studies done on Saraca asoca along with the exploration of bioactive compounds in various parts of the plant which will display its cardio-protective potential with its rich bioactive compounds as ACE inhibitors. All relevant information on Saraca asoca in treating and preventing cardio-related disorders has been collected from electronic databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Science Direct. Various parts of Saraca asoca were studied to assess its pharmacological and cardioprotective properties. The bioactive compounds of Saraca asoca have been assessed to explore its role as anti-hypertensive, antioxidant, ACE inhibitors, and cardio-protective with the help of in-vivo, in-vitro studies and other research studies. This thorough review focuses on the potent natural bioactive compounds in various parts of Saraca asoca exhibiting its potential as a cardioprotective agent while incorporating historical, chemical, and therapeutic views.

Amelioration of sodium fluoride induced oxidative stress by Cynometra travancorica Bedd in mice

OBJECTIVES

Cynometra travancorica, endemic to Western Ghats of India is pharmacologically similar to Saraca asoca and occasionally used as substitute in a well-known Ayurvedic uterine tonic Asokarishta. S. asoca possess various biological properties, but there are no reports on C. travancorica. The present study evaluated the pharmacological properties of C. travancorica and its efficacy in attenuating the sodium fluoride (NaF) induced oxidative stress in mice.

METHODS

Antioxidant potential of methanolic extract of C. travancorica (CTE) stem bark was evaluated using DPPH, superoxide radical scavenging and total antioxidant assays. The effect of CTE on mitigating NaF deteriorated redox status in the liver tissue of mice was evaluated. Functional groups in CTE were analyzed by FTIR analysis.

RESULTS

CTE effectively scavenged the free radicals in in vitro condition. CTE could augment catalase (46.6%), superoxide dismutase (53.8%) activities and GSH level (48.1%) against NaF induced decline in the liver tissue of mice. The peroxidation of lipids was found to be decreased by 44.9% and tissue damage abated as inferred by histopathology. FTIR analysis revealed the presence of biologically active functional groups in CTE.

CONCLUSIONS

The study revealed the ameliorative effect of C. travancorica against NaF induced deleterious effect in experimental animals by its potent antioxidant potential.

Population genetic and phytochemical dataset of Saraca asoca: A traditionally important medicinal tree

The data presented in this article is in support of the research paper "Genetic and phytochemical investigations for understanding population variability of the medicinally important tree Saraca asoca to help develop conservation strategies" Hegde et al., 2018. This article provides PCR based Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) and HPLC datasets of 106 individual samples of Saraca asoca collected from various geographical ranges of the Western Ghats of India. The ISSR data includes information on genetic diversity and images of population structures generated through amplified DNA products from samples of Saraca asoca leaf. Phytochemical data obtained from HPLC includes concentration (mg/g) of gallic acid (GA), catechin (CAT), and epicatechin (EPI). The data also presents information obtained from various statistical analysis viz. standard error of the mean values, distribution variables, prediction accuracy, and multiple logistic regression analysis.

Genetic and phytochemical investigations for understanding population variability of the medicinally important tree Saraca asoca to help develop conservation strategies

Saraca asoca (Roxb.) De Wilde (Caesalpiniaceae) is a highly traded IUCN red listed tree species used in Ayurvedic medicines for the treatment of various disorders, especially gynaecological problems. However, information about the genetic variations between populations and corresponding variation in specialized metabolites of S. asoca remains unclear. To address this issue, we analysed 11 populations of S. asoca with 106 accessions collected from Western Ghats of India using ISSR markers along with selected phytocompounds using RP-HPLC. Twenty primers were screened, out of which seven were selected for further analysis based on generation of clear polymorphic banding patterns. These seven ISSR primers produced 74 polymorphic loci. AMOVA showed 43% genetic variation within populations and 57% among the populations of S. asoca. To estimate the genetic relationships among S. asoca populations, UPGMA and Bayesian Models were constructed, which revealed two clusters of similar grouping patterns. However, excluding minor deviations, UPGMA and dissimilarity analysis showed close association of genotypes according to their geographical locations. Catechin (CAT), epicatechin (EPI) and gallic acid (GA) were quantified from bark and leaf samples of corresponding genotypes collected from 106 accessions. ROC plots depicted the sensitivity and specificity of the concentrations of tested phytocompounds at various cut-off points. Although, multiple logistic regression analysis predicted some association between few loci with GA, EPI and CAT, but PCA for phytochemical data failed to distinguish the populations. Overall, there were no significant trends observed to distinguish the populations based on these phytocompounds. Furthermore, the study advocates the delineate provenance regions of S. asoca genotypes/chemotype snapshots for in-situ conservation and ex-situ cultivation.

Molecular identification of Saraca asoca from its substituents and adulterants

ABSTRACT

Saraca asoca (Roxb.) De Wilde is an important medicinal plant from the Western Ghats of India, traditionally used in treatment of various gynecological disorders. Increasing commercial demand and decreasing numbers has resulted in this plant becoming endangered with crude drug materials being extensively substituted/adulterated with other plant species. The present study was undertaken with the objective of development and evaluation of multivariate cluster analysis of ISSR fingerprints against rbcL-based DNA barcodes as tool to understand the relationships and to differentiate common adulterants and substituents from S. asoca. ISSR-based Hierarchical Cluster Analysis was carried out on 41 samples of S. asoca and 5 each of the 5 common substituent/adulterant plants and the clustering patterns were evaluated against DNA-sequence-based barcoding of rbcL region of their plastids. Factorial analysis and Principal Coordinate Analysis revealed distinct groups of genetic pools of respective taxa thereby confirming the utility of ISSR fingerprinting as a useful tool for differentiation between the genuine and the adulterants/substituents. NCBI-BLAST search on DNA barcode rbcL region confirmed the results of ISSR assays. Therefore, our study demonstrated the utility of simple, cost-effective method of ISSR fingerprinting coupled with rbcL barcoding in differentiating this important medicinal plant from its common adulterants/substituents.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Combination of DNA isolation and RP-HPLC analysis method for bark samples of Saraca asoca and its adulterant

DNA fingerprinting singly or in combination with phytochemical analysis is ideal for quality control of crude plant-based drugs. However, when the source material is tannin rich stem bark, extraction of DNA by conventional methods becomes challenging. In such cases, phytochemical profiling serves as very useful tool for its identification. The work herein described a method for simultaneous DNA isolation and phytochemical extraction for downstream analysis and applications from dried bark powder of Saraca asoca and commercial samples of this crude drug as well as from those of Polyalthia longifolia, its most common adulterant. It is a modified CTAB-based method which involves a pre-extraction step by soaking samples overnight in de-ionized water followed by filtration. The residues in the filter paper were used for DNA isolation and dried filtrate was used for Reverse Phase-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography analysis. Results revealed that genomic DNA isolated was PCR amplifiable with Inter Simple Sequence Repeat and Start Codon Targeted markers. Phenolic compounds of catechin, epicatechin, and gallic acid were detected from the above dried filtrate. The method is simple, reliable and it requires small amount of sample with an option of integrating both phytochemical and DNA-based profiling, from the same starting material. Therefore, the present method could be useful for further potential applications such as quality control assessment of S. asoca products.