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

AbstractIn the Kaluxung River catchment of the southeastern Tibetan Plateau in China, we identified threeEphedra 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 bedroc k 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 chloroplasttrnT –trnF andtrnS –trnfM regions for allEphedra specimens examined in this study, theE. 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 ± ...
Source: Journal of Natural Medicines - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Source Type: research