Ecological, phylogenetical, and pharmacognostical characteristics of Aconitum kiyomiense endemic to Hida highlands, Takayama city, Gifu Prefecture, Japan

We report the first detection of aconitine alkaloids in the tuberous roots, which exhibited aconitine alkaloid contents varying from 0.32 to 4.05  mg/g dry weight (mg/g) for aconitine, 0.02 to 4.12 mg/g for hypaconitine, undetectable to 0.05 mg/g for jesaconitine, and 0.42 to 3.76 mg/g for mesaconitine. The variation of aconitine alkaloid components and contents appeared to be random and did not vary with inflorescence phenotype,trnL –trnF haplotype, environmental habitat conditions, or the geographic region of the collection sites. Since most populations showed no genetic intra-variation, it will be necessary to maintain the continuity of habitats and designate areas for conservation of genetic diversity at the population level.

Source: Journal of Natural Medicines - March 11, 2019 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research