Jan Schripsema Department of Grupo Metabolômica, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense
Abstract:
Metabolomics involves the identification and quantification of all metabolites in certain organisms or parts of it. In our group novel methods have been developed for the processing of samples and subsequent accurate quantification of the metabolites, especially through Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).
A number of plant species has been investigated and metabolite profiles were obtained. One of the species investigated was Baccharis trimera, a plant widely used in popular medicine and locally known under the name Carqueja. This plant was recently recognized as a medicinal plant by the ANVISA (the Brazilian Agency equivalent to the FDA in the USA). In the comparison of different commercial samples large differences in the chemical composition were detected: E.g. the quantity of the main flavonoid Eupatorin ranged between 0 and 15 mg/g of plant material.
The differences in the chemical profiles generate large doubts about the efficient use of the medicinal plant, but considering that the active components have not yet been identified, it also offers a possibility to find novel drug leads, by metabolomics, in which activity profiles of the individual samples are directly compared with the chemical profiles. With sufficient samples and efficient biological tests the active components will be revealed.
