Department of Pharmacognosy, Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, Iasi, 700115, Romania.
Phytopharmacy and Natural Products Research Group, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Wädenswil, 8820, Switzerland.
Phytochem Anal. 2021 Jul;32(4):482-494. doi: 10.1002/pca.2996. Epub 2020 Oct 5.
Symphytum officinale L. (comfrey, Boraginaceae) is a cultivated or spontaneously growing medicinal plant that is traditionally used for the treatment of bone fractures, hematomas, muscle pains and joint pains. A wide range of topical preparations and dried roots for ex tempore applications are marketed in European drug stores or pharmacies.
The aim of this study was to perform the qualitative and quantitative analysis of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) and phenolic compounds in the hydroethanolic extracts of 16 commercial comfrey root batches purchased from 12 different European countries.
Liquid chromatography hyphenated with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) was used for the profiling of PAs and phenolic compounds, whereas LC-MS/MS and liquid chromatography with diode array detection (LC-DAD) were used for their quantification.
20 PAs (i.e. intermedine, lycopsamine, acetylintermedine, acetyllycopsamine, symphytine, symphytine-N-oxide), 17 phenolic compounds (i.e. caffeic and rosmarinic acids, rabdosiin, globoidnan A, globoidnan B) and 9 nonphenolic compounds (sugars, organic and fatty acids) were fully or partly annotated in the analysed samples. In addition, the quantitative analyses revealed that globoidnan B, rabdosiin and globoidnan A are new phenolic markers that can be used together with rosmarinic acid and PAs for the quality control of commercial comfrey root batches.
This study brings new insights into the phytochemical complexity of S. officinale, revealing not only numerous toxic PAs, but also a significant number of valuable phenolic compounds that could contribute to the bioactivities of comfrey-based preparations.
筋骨草（Comfrey，Boraginaceae）是一种经过栽培或自然生长的药用植物，传统上用于治疗骨折、血肿、肌肉疼痛和关节疼痛。欧洲药店或药房销售各种用于临时应用的局部制剂和干根制剂。
本研究旨在对从 12 个不同欧洲国家购买的 16 批商业筋骨草根的水乙醇提取物进行吡咯里西啶生物碱（PAs）和酚类化合物的定性和定量分析。
采用液相色谱-高分辨串联质谱（LC-HRMS/MS）对 PAs 和酚类化合物进行分析，采用 LC-MS/MS 和二极管阵列检测（LC-DAD）对其进行定量。
在分析的样品中，共鉴定出 20 种 PAs（即 intermedine、lycopsamine、acetylintermedine、acetyllycopsamine、symphytine、symphytine-N-oxide）、17 种酚类化合物（即咖啡酸和迷迭香酸、rabdosiin、globoidnan A、globoidnan B）和 9 种非酚类化合物（糖、有机酸和脂肪酸）。此外，定量分析表明，globoidnan B、rabdosiin 和 globoidnan A 是新的酚类标志物，可与迷迭香酸和 PAs 一起用于商业筋骨草根批次的质量控制。
本研究深入了解了筋骨草的植物化学复杂性，不仅揭示了大量有毒的 PAs，还揭示了大量有价值的酚类化合物，这些化合物可能有助于筋骨草制剂的生物活性。
