Detection and Toxicity Evaluation of Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids in Medicinal Plants Gynura bicolor and Gynura divaricata Collected from Different Chinese Locations.
Two edible plants in Southeast Asia, Gynura bicolor and G. divaricata, are not only known to be nutritive but also useful as medicinal herbs. Previous phytochemical investigation of Gynura species showed the presence of hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), indicating the toxic risk of using these two plants. The present study was designed to analyze the distribution of PA components and tried to evaluate the preliminary toxicity of these two Gynura species. Eight samples of G. bicolor and G. divaricata from five different Chinese locations were collected and their specific PAs were qualitatively characterized by applying an UPLC/MS/MS spectrometry method. Using a pre-column derivatization HPLC method, the total retronecine ester-type PAs in their alkaloids extracts were quantitatively estimated as well. Finally, their genotoxicity was investigated with an effective high-throughput screening method referred to as Vitotox™ test and their potential cytotoxicity was tested on HepG2 cells. It was found that different types of PAs were widely present in Gynura species collected from south of China. Among them, no significant genotoxic effects were detected with serial concentrations through the present in vitro assay. However, the cytotoxicity assay of Gynura plants collected from Jiangsu displayed weak activity at the concentration of 100 mg/ml. It is important to note that this research validates in part the indication that the use of Gynura species requires caution.
Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, P. R. China.|Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, BE-9000, Ghent.
Jian
J
Chen
Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, P. R. China.|The Jiangsu Provincial Platform for Conservation and Utilization of Agricultural Germplasm, Nanjing, 210014, P. R. China.
Han
H
Lü
Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, P. R. China.
Lian-Xiang
LX
Fang
Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210014, P. R. China.
Wei-Lin
WL
Li
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, BE-2610, Wilrijk.|Toxicology Unit, Scientific Institute of Public Health, J. Wytsmanstreet 14, BE-1050, Brussels.
Luc
L
Verschaeve
Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, 201203, P. R. China.
Zheng-Tao
ZT
Wang
Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, BE-9000, Ghent.
Norbert
N
De Kimpe
Department of Sustainable Organic Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, BE-9000, Ghent.
Sven
S
Mangelinckx
D019659:Asteraceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D002681:China; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D006801:Humans; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D011763:Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids / Q000633:toxicity*
D011763:Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids

Gynura bicolor
; 
Gynura divaricata
; Cytotoxic activities; Genotoxic activities; Pyrrolizidine alkaloids