Leal-Díaz Ana María, Santos-Zea Liliana, Martínez-Escobedo Hilda Cecilia, Guajardo-Flores Daniel, Gutiérrez-Uribe Janet Alejandra, Serna-Saldivar Sergio Othón
†Centro de Biotecnología FEMSA, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Avenida Eugenio Garza Sada 2501 Sur, CP 64849, Monterrey, N.L. México.
J Agric Food Chem. 2015 Apr 22;63(15):3924-30. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5b00883. Epub 2015 Apr 9.
Steroidal saponins have shown beneficial health effects. Agave spp. leaves and rhizomes are sources of these compounds, but their presence has not been reported in the aguamiel. Aguamiel is the sweet edible sap from mature agave, and its quality is influenced by the plant ripening stage. The purpose of this research was to identify and quantitate saponins in aguamiel from Agave americana and Agave salmiana at two ripening stages. Saponins and sapogenins were identified with HPLC/ESI-MS/TOF and quantitated with HPLC/ELSD. Results proved the presence of saponins derived from kammogenin, manogenin, gentrogenin, and hecogenin. The saponin content in aguamiel from immature A. salmiana was 2-fold higher (478.3 protodioscin equivalents (PE) μg/g aguamiel (DM)) compared with A. americana (179.0 PE μg/g aguamiel (DM)). In both species, saponin content decreased when plants reached sexual maturity. This should be considered before evaluating the effects of Agave spp. as a source of bioactive saponins.
甾体皂苷已显示出有益健康的作用。龙舌兰属植物的叶子和根茎是这些化合物的来源，但尚未有关于其在龙舌兰汁液中存在的报道。龙舌兰汁液是成熟龙舌兰中可食用的甜汁液，其质量受植物成熟阶段的影响。本研究的目的是鉴定和定量两个成熟阶段的美国龙舌兰和萨尔米安纳龙舌兰的龙舌兰汁液中的皂苷。通过HPLC/ESI-MS/TOF鉴定皂苷和皂苷元，并用HPLC/ELSD进行定量。结果证明了源自新替告皂苷元、曼诺皂苷元、龙胆皂苷元和海柯皂苷元的皂苷的存在。未成熟的萨尔米安纳龙舌兰的龙舌兰汁液中的皂苷含量（478.3原薯蓣皂苷当量（PE）μg/g龙舌兰汁液（干物质））比美国龙舌兰（179.0 PE μg/g龙舌兰汁液（干物质））高2倍。在这两个物种中，当植物达到性成熟时，皂苷含量都会下降。在评估龙舌兰属植物作为生物活性皂苷来源的作用之前，应考虑这一点。
