Abstract
There is a large list of plants used by the population as medicine, but in some case the choice of the right plant becomes a real drawback in phytotherapy, since it is often difficult to differentiate morphologically between the active and inactive species. Plantago species are widely used throughout the world as analgesic, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, digestive and wound healing. Nonetheless, Plantago spp. share very strong morphological similarities, which hinders their correct botanical identification and, in addition, they are equivocally marketed by the same common name “Plantain”. Therefore, the establishment of a reliable approach to distinguish unambiguously closely related species arises as an important task in the development of herbal medicines. In this work, we report a method that combines anatomical leaf features and chemical composition of four Plantago species to generate a multivariate model, which allows the differentiation of these species. Descriptive leaf anatomy was converted into a binary matrix to create a qualitative/quantitative non-metric multidimensional scaling (nmMDS) based on Jaccard index. The main results show that P. lanceolata L. is the most distinct species, the only one that owns mesophyll isolateral, colateral vascular bundle and a glandular trichome with spindle cells. Plantago major L. also has a unique glandular trichome, with enlarged basal cell and collar cell. This statistical-based anatomical approach is suitable to solve similar drawbacks in plant medicines of any other plant-cases. In addition, it was generated a nmMDS to chemical markers by mass spectrometry (FIA–ESI–IT–MS), to define how similar the species are regarding their chemical composition. Plantago major showed all compounds evaluated and is the only species to have the compounds hellicoside (m/z 655) and lavandulifolioside (m/z 755). The conversion of anatomical features into statistical data with the chemical composition emerges as a useful approach toward the quantitative differentiation of morphologically close related specimens.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atanasov AG, Waltenberger B, Pferschy-Wenzig EM, Linder T, Wawrosch C, Uhrin P, Temml V, Wang L, Schwaiger S, Heiss EH, Rollinger JM, Schuster D, Breuss JM, Bochkov V, Mihovilovic MD, Kopp B, Bauer R, Dirisch VM, Stuppner H (2015) Discovery and resupply of pharmacologically active plant-derived natural products: a review. Biotechnol Adv 33:1582–1614
Danilatos GD (1988) Foundations of environmental scanning electron microscopy. Advances in electronics and electron physics. Academic Press, New York
Ekor M (2013) The growing use of herbal medicines: issues relating to adverse reactions and challenges in monitoring safety. Front Pharmacol 4:177
Garg V, Dhar VJ, Sharma A, Dutt R (2012) Facts about standardization of herbal medicine: a review. Chin J Integr Med 10:1077–1083
Gonda S, Tóth L, Parizsa P, Nyitrai M, Vasas G (2010) Screening of common Plantago species in Hungary for bioactive molecules and antioxidant activity. Acta Biol Hung 61:25–34
Gotelli NJ, Ellison AM (2013) A primer of ecological statistics. Sinauer Associates Inc, Sunderland
Grubesic RJ, Screcnik G, Kremer D, Rodriguez JV, Nikolic T, Vladimir-Knezevic S (2013) Simultaneous RP-HPLC-DAD separation, and determination of flavonoids and phenolic acids in Plantago L. species. Chem Biodivers 10:1305–1316
Halberstein RA (2005) Medicinal plants: historical and cross-cultural usage patterns. Ann Epidemiol 9:686–699
Havsteen BH (2002) The biochemistry and medical significance of the flavonoids. Pharmacol Ther 96:67–202
Hefler SM, Rodrigues WA, Cervi AC (2011) O gênero Plantago L. (Plantaginaceae) na região Sul do Brasil. Rev Bras Biocien 9:297–321
Ho JN, Lee YH, Park JS, Jun WJ, Kim HK, Bum SH, Shin DH, Cho HY (2005) Protective effects of aucubin isolated from Eucommia ulmoides against UVB-induced oxidative stress in human skin fibroblasts. Biol Pharm Bull 28:1244–1248
Jankovic T, Zduníc G, Beara I, Balog K, Pjevljakusic D, Stesevic D, Savikin K (2012) Comparative study of some polyphenols in Plantago species. Biochem Syst Ecol 42:69–74
Johansen DA (1940) Plant microtechnique. Mc Graw Hill, New York
Li L, Chung-Ming L, Zhao-Jie C, Jing W, Dong-Fang S, Zhi-Qiang L (2009) Isolation and purification of Plantamajoside and Acteoside from plant extract of Plantago asiatica L. by hight performance centrifugal partition chromatography. Chem Res Chin Univ 25:817–821
Makhmudov RR, Abdulladzhanova NG, Kamaev FG (2011) Phenolic compounds from Plantago major and P. lanceolata. Chem Nat Compd 42:288–289
Mesquita LMS, Rocha CQ, Affonso LHL, Cerulli A, Piacente S, Tangerina MMP, Martins MBG, Vilegas W (2017) Phenolic Isomers from Plantago catharinea Leaves: Isolation, Identification, Quantification and in vitro Antioxidant Activity. Nat Product Commun 12:409–412
Moreira DL, Teixeira SC, Monteiro MHD, De-Oliveira ACAX, Paumgartten FJR (2014) Traditional use and safety of herbal medicines. Rev Bras Farmacogn 24:248–257
Na-Bangchang K, Karbwang J (2014) Traditional herbal medicine for the control of tropical diseases. Trop Med Health 2:3–13
Nicotra AB, Leigh A, Boyce CK, Jones CS, Niklas KJ, Royer DL, Tsukaya H (2011) The evolution and functional significance of leaf shape in the angiosperms. Funct Plant Biol 38:535–552
O’Brien TP, Feder N, Mccully ME (1964) Polychromatic staining of plant cell walls by toluidine blue O. Protoplasma 59:368–373
Ozkan G, Kamiloglu S, Ozdal T, Boyacioglu D, Capanoglu E (2016) Potential use of turkish medicinal plants in the treatment of various diseases. Molecules 21:1–32
Prista LN (1995) Tecnologia farmaceutica. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa
Qi M, Xiong A, Geng F, Yang L, Wang Z (2012) A novel strategy for target profiling analysis of bioactive phenylethanoid glycosides in Plantago medicinal plants using ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry. J Sep Sci 35:1470–1478
Ronstead N, Göbel E, Franzyk H, Jensen SR, Olsen CE (2000) Chemotaxonomy of Plantago, Iridoid glucosides and caffeoyl phenylethanoid glycosides. Phytochemistry 22:337–348
Sakai WS (1973) Simple method for differential staining of paraffin embedded plant material using toluidine blue O. Biotech Histochem 48:247–249
Samuelsen AB (2000) The traditional uses, chemical constituents and biological activities of Plantago major L. A review. J Ethnopharmacol 71:1–21
Wilmer C, Fricker M (1996) Stomata. Chapman and Hall, London
Zhou Q, Lu W, Niu Y, Liu J, Zhang X, Gao B, Akoh CC, Shi H, Yu LL (2013) Identification and quantification of phytochemical composition, anti-inflammatory, cellular antioxidant and radical scavenging activities of twelve Plantago species. J Agric Food Chem 61:6693–6702
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) (2011/23113-0, LMSM and 2009/52237-9, WV).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mesquita, L.M.S., Colpo, K.D., da Rocha, C.Q. et al. Anatomical differentiation and metabolomic profiling: a tool in the diagnostic characterization of some medicinal Plantago species. Braz. J. Bot 40, 801–810 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-017-0388-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-017-0388-x