Advances in Chemical Analysis of Plants

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2024) | Viewed by 2867

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Sustainable Agriculture Sciences Department, Rothamsted Research, West Common, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK
Interests: plant physiology; plant nutrition; soil chemistry; soil analysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The chemical analysis of plants is a wide but fascinating topic for this Special Issue of Plants, and an incredibly fast-evolving research area transiting from the traditional mineral and nutritional analytical methods to the new era dominated by high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS) for plant ionomics and metabolomics. It is also a research area transiting from slow sample analysis with time-consuming sample preparation, to novel in vivo real-time analysis (from the lab bench instrumentation, to the in situ field portable equipment), and from single-parameter quantification to multi-parameter prediction with chemometrics. Accordingly, this Special Issue of Plants aims to show how the chemical analysis of plants plays a central role in agronomy, food science, pharmacology or environmental science, covering hot scientific topics such as plant adaptation to global warming and abiotic stresses, soil to nutrition and biofortification, phytoremediation, novel phytochemicals and many other topics related to the field of applied plant sciences.

Dr. Javier Hernández-Allica
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nutrient
  • chemometrics
  • ionomics
  • mass spectrometry
  • portable
  • phytochemical

Published Papers (3 papers)

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15 pages, 2817 KiB  
Article
Phytochemical Profile and Evaluation of the Antioxidant, Cyto-Genotoxic, and Antigenotoxic Potential of Salvia verticillata Hydromethanolic Extract
by Lamprini S. Stavropoulou, Ioanna Efthimiou, Lambrini Giova, Chrysoula Manoli, Paraskevi S. Sinou, Aris Zografidis, Fotini N. Lamari, Dimitris Vlastos, Stefanos Dailianis and Maria Antonopoulou
Plants 2024, 13(5), 731; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13050731 - 05 Mar 2024
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Abstract
This study comprises the phytochemical characterization, the evaluation of the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA), and the investigation of the cyto-genotoxic and antigenotoxic potential of hydromethanolic extract derived from Salvia verticillata L. leaves. HPLC–DAD–ESI-MS and HPLC–DAD were used for the [...] Read more.
This study comprises the phytochemical characterization, the evaluation of the total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity (AA), and the investigation of the cyto-genotoxic and antigenotoxic potential of hydromethanolic extract derived from Salvia verticillata L. leaves. HPLC–DAD–ESI-MS and HPLC–DAD were used for the characterization of the extract and determination of the major ingredients. Afterwards, the TPC and AA were determined. The cytotoxic and genotoxic effect of the extract on cultured human lymphocytes at concentrations of 10, 25, and 50 μg mL−1 was investigated via the Cytokinesis Block MicroNucleus (CBMN) assay. Moreover, its antigenotoxic potential against the mutagenic agent mitomycin C (MMC) was assessed using the same assay. The hydromethanolic extract comprises numerous metabolites, with rosmarinic acid being the major compound. It had a high value of TPC and exerted significant AA as shown by the results of the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) and Radical Scavenging Activity by DPPH• assays. A dose-dependent cytotoxic potential was recorded, with the highest dose (50 μg mL−1) exhibiting statistically significant cytotoxicity. None of the tested concentrations induced significant micronuclei (MN) frequencies, indicating a lack of genotoxicity. All tested concentrations reduced the MMC-mediated genotoxic effects, with the two lowest showing statistically significant antigenotoxic potential. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Chemical Analysis of Plants)
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12 pages, 2934 KiB  
Article
Seseli tortuosum L. subsp. tortuosum Essential Oils and Their Principal Constituents as Anticancer Agents
by Alessandro Vaglica, Antonella Maggio, Natale Badalamenti, Maurizio Bruno, Marianna Lauricella, Chiara Occhipinti and Antonella D’Anneo
Plants 2024, 13(5), 678; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13050678 - 28 Feb 2024
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Abstract
Seseli tortuosum L. subsp. tortuosum, belonging to the Apiaceae family, is a species that grows in Europe, mainly in the Mediterranean regions. The history of its application in traditional medicine highlights its various biological properties. Trying to explore the phytochemistry and pharmacological [...] Read more.
Seseli tortuosum L. subsp. tortuosum, belonging to the Apiaceae family, is a species that grows in Europe, mainly in the Mediterranean regions. The history of its application in traditional medicine highlights its various biological properties. Trying to explore the phytochemistry and pharmacological aspects of this species, the essential oils (EOs) extracted from flowers, stems, and roots of a locally wild accession, never previously investigated, growing in Sicily, Italy, were investigated. The chemical composition of all EOs, obtained by the hydrodistillation method, was evaluated by GC-MS. The most abundant class of all investigated samples was that of monoterpene hydrocarbons (79.98–91.21%) with p-cymene, α-pinene, β-pinene, and β-ocimene as major compounds. These EOs, and their main components, were tested for their possible anticancer activity. Obtained data provided evidence that among the different EOs tested, at the dose of 100 μg/mL, those extracted from stems and roots were particularly effective, already at 24 h of treatment, in reducing the cell viability of 42% and 95%, respectively, in HCT116 colon cancer cell line. These EOs also exerted a remarkable cytotoxic effect that was accompanied by morphological changes represented by cell shrinkage as well as a reduction in residual cell population. Differently, modest effects were found when EOs extracted from flowers were tested in the same experimental conditions. The evaluation of the phytocompounds mainly represented in the EOs extracted from different parts of the plant and tested in a range of concentrations between 20 and 200 μg/mL, revealed that α-pinene, β-pinene, and p-cymene exerted only modest effects on cell viability. Differently, a remarkable effect was found when β-ocimene, the most abundant phytocomponent in EOs from roots, was tested on colon cancer cells. This phytocompound, among those identified in EOs from Seseli tortuosum L. subsp. tortuosum, was found to be the most effective in reducing colon cancer cell viability with IC50 = 64.52 μg/mL at 24 h of treatment. All together, these data suggest that β-ocimene could be responsible for the effects observed in colon cancer cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Chemical Analysis of Plants)
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41 pages, 4526 KiB  
Systematic Review
Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, a Potential Source of Phytochemicals for Treating Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Systematic Review
by Valentina Lerose, Maria Ponticelli, Nadia Benedetto, Vittorio Carlucci, Ludovica Lela, Nikolay T. Tzvetkov and Luigi Milella
Plants 2024, 13(6), 771; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13060771 - 08 Mar 2024
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Abstract
Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal is a medicinal plant belonging to the traditional Indian medical system, showing various therapeutic effects such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic, and hepatoprotective activity. Of great interest is W. somnifera’s potential beneficial effect against neurodegenerative diseases, since the [...] Read more.
Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal is a medicinal plant belonging to the traditional Indian medical system, showing various therapeutic effects such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic, and hepatoprotective activity. Of great interest is W. somnifera’s potential beneficial effect against neurodegenerative diseases, since the authorized medicinal treatments can only delay disease progression and provide symptomatic relief and are not without side effects. A systematic search of PubMed and Scopus databases was performed to identify preclinical and clinical studies focusing on the applications of W. somnifera in preventing neurodegenerative diseases. Only English articles and those containing the keywords (Withania somnifera AND “neurodegenerative diseases”, “neuroprotective effects”, “Huntington”, “Parkinson”, “Alzheimer”, “Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis”, “neurological disorders”) in the title or abstract were considered. Reviews, editorials, letters, meta-analyses, conference papers, short surveys, and book chapters were not considered. Selected articles were grouped by pathologies and summarized, considering the mechanism of action. The quality assessment and the risk of bias were performed using the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions checklist. This review uses a systematic approach to summarize the results from 60 investigations to highlight the potential role of W. somnifera and its specialized metabolites in treating or preventing neurodegenerative diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Chemical Analysis of Plants)
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