Comparison of Extraction Procedures for Parthenolide in Tanacetum parthenium

✍ Scribed by Andrew M. G. Brown; Kenneth C. Lowe; Michael R. Davey; J. Brian Power; David W. Knight; Stan Heptinstall

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 631 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0958-0344
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1565(199603)7:2<86::aid-pca287>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

A comparison has been made of the efficiency of high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) protocols and a human platelet-based bioassay to quantify parthenolide, a pharmacologically active sesquiterpenoid in Tanaceturn parthenium (Feverfew). The optimum protocol, in terms both of concentration of parthenolide measured and of reproducibility of results, involved re-suspension of an acetone extract of the plant material in 100% ethanol prior to isocratic HPLC. The mean parthenolide concentration in a leaf extract dissolved in ethanol from a glasshouse-grown clone (1.52\*0.13%; n = 10) was significantly greater (P=O.Ol) than in an extract dissolved in acetonitrile (1.23\*0.25%; n = 10). Progressive reduction of the organic phase in the re-extraction solvent by replacement with phosphate-buffered saline resulted in concomitantly less parthenolide being measured in the samples. The mean parthenolide concentration measured by HPLC in extracts employing 3% ethanol in phosphate-buffered saline as re-extracting solvent, as used previously in bioassays, was significantly (P20 mg dry weight) samples from glasshouse-grown and in vitro cultured materials of Feverfew.