R.R. Muradkhanov, T.D. Mezenova, D.A. Konovalov

Plant bioactive compound podophyllotoxin belongs to the aryltetralinlignan group and has a number of pharmacologic activity types, the main of which is its antitumor property. Podophyllotoxin-s lignans are spread widely enough in the Plant Kingdom: podophyllotoxin and its derivatives have been found in different parts of nearly 80 plants representing more than 20 families. In spite of this fact the industrial source of podophyllotoxin is only one raw material - roots and rootstocks of Podophyllum peltatum L. and Podophyllu memodi Wall. As a result of exceeding and uncontrolled preparation of wild-growing raw materials and little profitability of cultivation these sources are not able to satisfy to the increasing demand of the pharmaceutical industry for podophyllotoxin. That is why the number of studies and tests appeared recently in search for new alternative herbal podophyllotoxin sources and its derivatives. One of such sources could be shoots of Juniperus Virginiana, which can contain up to 0.4 % of podophyllotoxin in terms of air-dry raw material. The aim of our work is the study of podophyllotoxin content in needles of J. Virginiana, growing in the region of the Caucasian Mineral Waters as well as estimation of probability if its use for bioactive compound obtainment. The object of our study is shoots of J. Virginiana collected at Ecological-Botanic station of Botanic Institute RAS in Pyatigorsk. TLC method was used for qualitative definition and quantitative estimation of podophyllotoxin contentin needles of J. Virginiana followed by densitometric processing. The chromatography was carried out on Sorbfil plates. As testifier we applied «Condyline»® (AstellasPharma Europe B.V., Netherlands), which is a 0.5% alcohol solution of podophyllotoxin. The elution was conducted in the solvent system chloroform-ethanol in ratio 23:1. A 50% sulfuric acid solution was used as detecting reagent. On the chromatogram of the J. virginiana shoots - extract appeared blue-violet stains corresponding in their colour and meaning with the Rf podophyllotoxin stain in the testifier-s track. After that the plates were scanned and digitally processed using «Videodensitometr Sorbfil». Compound definition with the method of densitometry is based on the proportional correlation of surface and colour intensity of a stain with the quantitative content of the substance in it. The calculation of the podophyllotoxin content in the stain on the chromatogram was carried out by the absolute standardization method (external standard). The content of podophyllotoxin in the studied shoots of J. Virginiana in the completely dry raw materials amounted up to 0.174±0.01%. As a result of considering the great biomass and probability of all-season raw material preparation of J. Virginiana it may be concluded that its shoots are a valid alternative source for industrial obtainment of podophyllotoxin.