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Relationship between ephedrine alkaloid profile in Ephedra gerardiana and soil characteristics of glacial landforms in southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

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Abstract

In the Kaluxung River catchment of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau in China, we identified three Ephedra gerardiana communities on different soils and glacial landforms from 4842 to 4899 m above sea level: a moraine community located on constantly collapsing sandy gravel alpine steppe slopes with exposed bedrock on the outer slope of the terminal moraine of the Qiangyong Glacier on Mt. Kaluxung; an outwash plain community located on a gentle alpine steppe slope with exposed bedrock at the terminal end of the outwash plain in the glacial valley of the southeast side of Mt. Noijinkangsang; and a river terrace community located in an alpine meadow on a rock-scattered flat river terrace along a glacier-fed river in the outwash plain in the glacial valley of the southeast side of Mt. Noijinkangsang. Based on the finding of identical DNA sequences of the intergenic spacers of chloroplast trnT–trnF and trnS–trnfM regions for all Ephedra specimens examined in this study, the E. gerardiana in this study were considered to comprise a genetically homogeneous population. Analysis of the relationship between ephedrine alkaloid profiles of these three communities and soil characteristics showed that the river terrace community in wet alpine meadow had significantly lower ephedrine content than did the moraine and outwash plain communities in dry alpine steppe (moraine community, 1.52 ± 0.44; outwash plain community, 1.42 ± 0.68; river terrace community, 0.33 ± 0.65%DW), but pseudoephedrine content showed the reverse pattern (moraine community, 0.86 ± 0.30; outwash plain community, 0.73 ± 0.60; river terrace community, 1.50 ± 0.71%DW). In addition, total alkaloid (ephedrine and pseudoephedrine) content in the river terrace community (1.83 ± 0.24%DW) was significantly lower than that in the moraine community (2.38 ± 0.64%DW) and outwash plain community (2.15 ± 0.55%DW).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the bilateral program—joint research projects between the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (NSFC; grant nos. 40701194, 40871099) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and the “Evidence-based participatory R&D for increasing domestic production of high-quality crude drugs” program from the Advanced Research and Development Programs for Medical Innovation (Grant Number 21ak0101159h0001) AMED, Japan. The authors thank Dr. Mitsugu Nishimura, former professor at Tokai University in Japan, for the opportunity to conduct this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chubu University, 1200 Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai, Aichi, 487-8501, Japan

    Motoyasu Minami, Takako Mori, Yukako Honda, Kaoru Ueno & Tetuo Murakami

  2. Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Wake O-24, Nomi, Ishikawa, 923-1224, Japan

    Tetsuya Matsunaka

  3. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 16, Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Junbo Wang & Liping Zhu

  4. Showa Pharmaceutical University, 3-3165 Higashi-Tamagawagakuen, Machida, Tokyo, 194-8543, Japan

    Akihito Takano & Takahisa Nakane

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  1. Motoyasu Minami
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Minami, M., Mori, T., Honda, Y. et al. Relationship between ephedrine alkaloid profile in Ephedra gerardiana and soil characteristics of glacial landforms in southeastern Tibetan Plateau, China. J Nat Med 76, 703–714 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-022-01628-z

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