Junji Akaki; Toshio Morikawa; Sohachiro Miyake; Kiyofumi Ninomiya; Mayumi Okada; Genzoh Tanabe; Yutana Pongpiriyadacha; Masayuki Yoshikawa; Osamu Muraoka
PHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS WILEY-BLACKWELL 25 (6) 544 - 550 0958-0344 2014/11
[Refereed] IntroductionStems and roots of Salacia genus plants have been used in Ayurveda as a specific remedy for early stage diabetes. Previous investigations identified four sulphonium sulphates, that is, salacinol (1), kotalanol (3), ponkoranol (5) and salaprinol (7), as the compounds responsible for the anti-diabetic activity. Their desulphonates (2, 4, 6 and 8) were also isolated as active constituents. Two separate quantitative analytical protocols, that is, for 1 and 3 and for 2 and 4, have been developed recently.
ObjectiveTo: validate the two analytical protocols with respect to all eight sulphoniums; evaluate the quality of a variety of Salacia samples collected in different geographical regions, that is, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India; and determine their distribution in each part of the plant, that is, stems/roots, leaves and fruits.
MethodsAnalyses of four sulphonium sulphates in 32 Salacia extracts were carried out on an Asahipak NH2P-50 column, and those of the corresponding desulphonates were conducted on an Inertsil ODS-3 column.
ResultsNeokotalanol (4) was the major constituent in Salacia samples from Thailand, whereas 1 was the primary constituent in extracts of the stems/roots of plants from Sri Lanka and India. These sulphoniums were only present in trace amounts in leaves and fruits of the plants.
ConclusionTwo analytical protocols were successfully applied to analyse 32 Salacia samples, and revealed that sulphoniums (1-8) had characteristic distributions due to the plant part and/or due to geographical region. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Using the recently developed two analytical protocols, the distributions of eight sulphoniums (1-8) responsible for the anti-diabetic activity of Salacia, a specific remedy for the treatment of early stage diabetes in Ayurveda, were examined in 32 extracts of Salacia samples collected in Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. The distribution of these sulphoniums in the different plant parts was also examined. Each constituent had characteristic distributions in the different plant parts and different geographical regions.