German soils affect biomass production, elemental profiles, and anti-inflammatory activity of three medicinal plants used in Brazilian traditional medicine: Scoparia dulcis L., Physalis angulata L., and Porophyllum ruderale (Jacq.) Cass.
Hernández EB, Gabor P, Schanbacher F, Severino VGP, Leandro WM, Shaheen SM, Melzig M, Weng A, Rinklebe J.
Medicinal Plants
Three tropical medicinal herbs traditionally used in Brazilian folk healing can be grown in European greenhouse soils without losing their healing properties — opening a path to locally grown, pharmacologically active raw materials outside their native range.
Scientists wanted to know if three plants from South America, used for centuries in Brazilian herbal medicine, could be grown in European soils without losing their medicinal punch. They planted them in two types of German soil, checked that the plants were healthy and not accumulating dangerous metals, then tested whether plant extracts could still reduce inflammation in lab cells. All three plants grew well and kept their anti-inflammatory properties, with one plant's extracts being especially powerful at calming inflammatory signals.
Key Findings
All three South American medicinal species produced satisfactory above-ground biomass in German greenhouse conditions, with Porophyllum ruderale yielding the highest biomass across both soil types.
Potentially toxic trace elements including nickel, copper, zinc, and rare earth elements were detected at subtoxic concentrations, and rare earth elements were largely retained in roots with limited translocation to harvestable shoots.
Acetone extracts of Physalis angulata, enriched in limonoid compounds called physalins, showed the strongest inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in laboratory macrophage models.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers successfully grew three South American medicinal plants in German soils and found they still produced bioactive compounds with anti-inflammatory effects, with one species showing particularly potent activity against inflammatory pathways.
Abstract Preview
Cultivated medicinal plants are an important source of bioactive raw materials. However, information on their performance in non-native soils and their associated elemental and pharmacological prof...
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