A review of:

High-Speed Extraction and HPLC Fingerprinting of Medicinal Plants ! Application to Har"an Al#aloids of $en%s Passiflora E!A!A&o%rashed' (!)anderplan# and !A!*han Phar"ace%tical +iolog,' 41-./' 011-012 -.113/
4he previo%s article in this series 506' disc%ssing the "eas%re"ent of flavonoids in Passiflora' was reviewed in Passiflor%nde' 00-0/' .7-.2 -.113/! 4his second report &, the sa"e a%thors descri&es the 8%antitative anal,sis of har"an al#aloids in al"ost 011 species and several h,&rids in the gen%s Passiflora %sing high-perfor"ance li8%id chro"atograph,! 9ata are presented for the concentration of five al#aloids: har"alol' har"ol' har"ane' har"aline and har"ine! 4hese s%&stances are well-#nown as "onoa"ine oxidase inhi&itors that have a n%"&er of effects on the central nervo%s s,ste" -C:S/! As in the earlier st%d,' the o&;ective was partl, to explore the che"ical &asis for the properties of the "edicinall, significant P. incarnata L! <ne or "ore of the a&ove five har"an al#aloids was detected in over half of the sa"ples exa"ined' &%t in a large n%"&er of cases the, were present at concentrations ;%st a&ove the li"it of detection and &elow the li"it of 8%antification! 4he "ost co""onl,-fo%nd "ar#er was har"ine' &%t har"ol was detected in onl, eleven sa"ples and har"alol in ;%st fo%r! 4he a%thors accept that at s%ch low levels' it is %nli#el, that har"an al#aloids wo%ld &e considered as relia&le che"otaxono"ic "ar#ers for the gen%s Passiflora. :o clear pattern e"erged fro" either the 8%alitative or 8%antitative res%lts to s%ggest an, lin# with even the "a;or s%&sections of the gen%s! F%rther"ore' and as with the flavonoids' it was not clear to what extent the presence and a"o%nts of har"an al#aloids were deter"ined &, genetic factors or what role was pla,ed &, environ"ental factors! 4h%s' two sa"ples of P. macrophylla MAS4! had 8%ite different profiles' as did two sa"ples of P. caerulea L!' two sa"ples of P. edulis S MS and two sa"ples of P. alata C=>4 S! Altho%gh the profile of P. foetida L! var! gossipifolia was ver, different fro" those of three other sa"ples of P. foetida' it co%ld &e arg%ed that different genot,pes were involved! 4he a%thors ac#nowledge that seasonal and other variations co%ld affect the 8%alitative and 8%antitative data and there&, hinder co"parison &etween sa"ples! A %sef%l extension of this and the a%thors? previo%s wor# wo%ld therefore &e to explore the intra-species variation in har"an al#aloids and flavonoids! 4here were ins%fficient data to deter"ine if the al#aloid profiles of an, of the h,&rids tested co%ld &e "atched against the parent species! Altho%gh the profile of P! @St >%le? and P. gibertii were different' this res%lt sheds little light on whether the, are one and the sa"e! t is do%&tf%l whether an, of these har"an al#aloids co%ld have an, phar"acological i"portance in Passiflora' and the a%thors concl%de &, recognising that the nat%re of the co"po%nds responsi&le for the C:S activit, of P. incarnata re"ains an open 8%estion! 4here were several "inor errors in no"enclat%re s%ch as ABviolaceaeC' AamethystineC and ABexconiensisC!

Reference 506 E!A!A&o%rashed' (!>!)anderplan# and !A!*han' High-Speed Extraction and HPLC Fingerprinting of Medicinal Plants ! Application to Passiflora Flavonoids' Phar"ace%tical +iolog,' 40-./' D0-E0 -.11./

L!A! *ing D Fe&r%ar, .11F

$er"an translation &, E! *%gler p%&lished in Passiflo%nde 0.-3/' 0E-.1 -.11F/