Comparative Analysis of The Content of Biochemical and Pharmacognostic Important Indicators in Vegetative Organs of Two Types of Elecampane, Depending on the Phase of Development

© 2025 Sultonov Raufjon Azizkulovich, this is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Research materials and methods the work was carried out at the Department of Pharmaceutical and Toxicological Chemistry of the State Educational Institution "Tajik State Medical University named after Abuali ibni Sino", State Institution "Scientific Research Pharmaceutical Center of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Tajikistan. Results and their discussion the results obtained (Figure 1.) show that the plant has a polyphenol content of 14% in the stem formation phase. In the budding phase, this indicator increases by about 4% and amounts to 18%. According to the study, the maximum accumulation of polyphenols in plants is observed in the flowering phase, which corresponds to 25%. The life cycle affects the accumulation of polyphenols in the plant. The plant accumulates different amounts of polyphenols in different phases of vegetation. Studies have shown that Inula macrophylla in the phase of stem formation, the content of polyphenols in the aboveground part is 45 micrograms/ml. In the budding and flowering phase, 95 mcg/ml and 120 mcg/ml, respectively. In the fruiting phase, the total content of polyphenols decreases and reaches 60 micrograms/ml.

Figure 1: The content of polyphenols in Inula macrophylla growing on the southern slope of the Hissar ridge, depending on the phases of development.

The figure shows the distribution of polyphenol content in different phases of I. macrophylla development. The plant has the most biologically active substances accumulated in the flowering phase. The lowest content of polyphenols in the leaves and stems of large-leaved inula is observed in May in the stalking phase, when its concentration is 10%-14%. This can be explained by the fact that the plant accumulates biologically active substances, including polyphenols, from the beginning of vegetation. At the end of the growing season, the content of polyphenols in I. tacrophylla begins to decrease sharply. In the conditions of the southern slope of the Hissar ridge, this corresponds to July and August. Due to the high content of polyphenols, which entails antioxidant activity, it can be recommended for cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases. 

These studies have shown that the content of polyphenols in I. macrophylla, starting from the phase of stem formation (although their content is very low) before flowering increases, reaching its peak, then it gradually decreases to a certain level. It should be noted that the maximum accumulation of polyphenols in the leaves of large-leaved inula occurs during budding and the beginning of flowering. Although in the budding phase, the content of polyphenols is somewhat inferior to the flowering phase. This can be explained by the influence of both ecological and climatic factors of the mountain conditions of the southern slope of the Hissar ridge, and the genotypic feature of the plant itself in the process of its growth and development. Thus, according to some authors [4,5,6,7,8,9], who pointed to the adaptive reactions of plants through the biosynthesis of biologically active substances and the formation of substances of secondary origin, which contribute to the adaptation of plants to harsh mountain conditions. Thus, the analysis showed that the optimal time for collecting raw materials (the above-ground part) is the flowering phase, when the intensity of accumulation of polyphenols reaches its maximum level. It is shown that the content of polyphenols in this species (I. macrophylla), depending on the phase of plant development in the conditions of the Southern slope of the Hissar ridge in its aboveground part, the highest content of active antioxidants and polyphenols is observed in the flowering phase of plants in July-August. Medicinal herbal remedies that have low toxicity are widely used in medical practice. They are used to treat various diseases of the human body. About half of all types of medicinal plant raw materials included in the State Register of Medicines are used in the form of infusions and decoctions for both internal and external use [3,4]. As is known, some biologically active substances mainly belong to substances of secondary origin (alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, glycosides, coumarins, essential oils, tannins and others). At the same time, the definition or identification of species-specific substances is of great scientific interest. An experimental biochemical analysis of two types of elecampane growing in Tajikistan and representing medicinal value showed that these two species (large-leaved elecampane and corn-headed elecampane) differ not only in their botanical and morphobiological properties, but also in some biologically active compounds (Table 1). The analysis of the results showed that the content of glycosides and coumarins is very specific for large-leaved elecampane, unlike cornegold elecampane, in which glycosides are not qualitatively detected, and the coumarin content is too low (traces). According to the rest of the studied biochemical parameters (i.e., the content of alkaloids, saponins, flavonoids, essential oils, tannins), these two studied species were similar.

Table 1: The content of biologically active compounds in the studied plants

Thus, the data obtained show that the composition of large-leaved elecampane and cornegold elecampane contains a sufficient number of biologically active substances such as saponins, flavonoids, glycosides, essential oils, as well as vitamins, minerals, coumarins and amino acids to a small extent. The development of new medicines based on natural medicinal plants is an important task set by the Government of Tajikistan. This is of great importance for healthcare and the medical industry both domestically and globally. Many well-known medicines are based on natural ingredients, and therefore research in this area can lead to the creation of new effective medicines. However, the situation with stocks of medicinal plants in Tajikistan is becoming more and more worrying. The degradation of vegetation caused by both anthropogenic factors and global climate change has led to a decrease in the availability of natural raw materials for the medical industry. This problem is especially acute due to Tajikistan's location in the global dust belt, where dust flows introduce harmful substances, including heavy metals, into the environment [1]. Tajikistan, as a mountainous country, has a very special specific feature in ecological and geographical terms. Such a multifaceted composition of its natural landscapes (i.e., plain, steppe, foothill plain, mountain gorges, high mountain ranges) It affects the abundance and biodiversity of the species composition of its flora, which number more than 4,500 species. It is gratifying that since ancient times, people have been using this vegetable wealth as food, medicinal, coloring, construction, honey-bearing resources and for feeding pets. Due to the healing practice and the use of many plant species to treat patients with various diseases, many plant species have received a botanical characteristic or description. It can be considered that in ancient times folk medicine greatly contributed to the development of botanical science. It should also be noted that among medicinal plants, although various species of the genus Inula L. are widely used in medical practice, but scientifically they are poorly studied in order to use them thoroughly as medicinal raw materials for the creation of pharmaceutical enterprises. It is also important to note the presence of an aluminum plant in Tursunzadevsky district, which may have additional environmental impacts in nearby areas such as Shirkent. In this regard, an additional analysis of the studied objects for the content of heavy metals is necessary to ensure the safety and quality of natural resources used for medical purposes. These measures contribute to the conservation and improvement of the availability of valuable natural resources for the medical and pharmaceutical industries. In this regard, further phytochemical studies of the above compounds in medicinal plants in their places of growth are required. Data analysis shows that there is little information on the study of phytochemical properties in medicinal plants, in particular, elecampane. In this part of the work, the phytochemical content of heavy metals in two species of elecampane growing on the Southern slope of the Hissar ridge was studied.  The results of our research on the content of heavy metals in the composition of soils and in various organs of two types of elecampane are presented in Table 2. As can be seen from this table, the distribution of metals by organs of two types of elecampane shows that leaves, flowers, roots and soils of their collection site contain large amounts of Sr, Zn, Cr, MnO2. A comparative analysis of the metal content in two types of elecampane showed that the leaves of IR contain Ni by 3.3 times, Co - 1.97 and Zn - 1.13 times more than in IM. IR flowers contain 8.2 times As, Ni - 1.53 and Fe2O3 - 1.2 times more than in IM, and IR roots contain 1.6 times more Co than in IM. Estimates show that IM has 1.4 times more lead in leaves, 1.7 times more cobalt in flowers, 3.25 times more nickel in roots, 1.5 times more zinc and 1.3 times more iron than IR.

Table 2: The content of heavy metals in the composition of soils and various organs of two types of elecampane

Note: here and further in the tables: IM - Inula elecampane, IR- Inula macrophylla

A comparative analysis of the data obtained showed that the vegetative organs of the two studied types of elecampane contain the same amount of TiO2 (0.33%), and no arsenic was found in the leaves. The remaining heavy metals are contained in both species at almost the same level. No cobalt was found in the composition of the soils of these zones [2, 7]. To take into account the multifactorial processes occurring in the soil-plant system and the need to track time characteristics and predict dynamic characteristics, this work uses a method based on the essence of the biological absorption coefficient [4, 5]. Table 3 shows, calculated by formula (1), the coefficients of biological absorption of heavy metals by various organs of two types of elecampane. The data obtained indicate a high energetic accumulation of vanadium in the flowers (1.85) and in the roots (1.52) IR. 

Table 3: Coefficient of biological absorption of heavy metals in various organs of two types of Inula L

The data obtained indicate a high energetic accumulation of vanadium in flowers (1.86), in leaves (1.68) and in roots (1.52) IM. As can be seen from the data in the table, there is a vigorous accumulation of chromium (>1) by all plant organs of both types of elecampane. In IR leaves, there is a vigorous accumulation of lead (1.45), copper and chromium (>1). Table 3 shows, calculated by formula (3), the indicator of total biogenicity (biophilicity of chemical elements – the ratio of the average content of elements in a given system to its average content in the earth's crust) by various organs of two types of elecampane. The table shows the ratio of the concentration of heavy metals in the soils of the zones of collection of elecampane to the MPC of the soil. The analysis of the tables shows that due to the excess content of some heavy metals in various soil areas of the collection zone, an increase in the values of biological absorption coefficients for some heavy metals was noted. This does not apply to heavy metals of the first hazard group (Pb, As and Zn), however, intensive accumulation of lead by IR leaves (1.45) was observed. The remaining parts of plants of both types of elecampane can be recommended 2. for the production of medicines. Thus, the content of heavy metals in two types of elecampane has been studied: large-leaved elecampane (Inula macrophylla) (IM) and cornhead elecampane (Inula rhizocephala) (IR), growing in the conditions of the southern slope of the Hissar ridge. It was found that the leaves of IR contain Ni by 3.3 times, Co - 1.97 and Zn - 1.13 times more than the leaves of IM. IR flowers contain 8.2 times As, Ni - 1.53 and Fe2O3 - 1.2 times more than in IM, and Co was found in the roots of IR 1.6 times more than in IM. It was found that IM contains 1.4 times more lead in leaves, 1.7 times more cobalt in flowers and 3.25 times more nickel in roots, 1.5 times more zinc and 1.3 times more iron than IR. It was found that the vegetative organs of the two studied types of elecampane contain the same amount of TiO2 (0.33%). The remaining heavy metals in both types of elecampane are contained at almost the same level. No cobalt was found in the composition of the soils of these plant growth zones.

The content of biochemical and pharmacognogyical important indicators in the vegatative organs of two species of elevane, depending on the phase of development.

In this part of the work, we determined the polyphenolic composition and identified the antioxidant activity of Inula macrofolia due to the fact that its reserves are huge in Tajikistan, this makes it possible to provide the pharmaceutical industry with raw materials. At this time, phytochemistry, the science of the chemical composition of plants, is one of the most relevant areas of science in the world, the research results of which are used both in theoretical and applied chemistry, as well as in medicine, cosmetology and agriculture. In this regard, the task of our research is included a qualitative study of the phytochemical composition of elecampane with a view to its use as a medicinal product.