PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Hoja.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Emoliente, sedante.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Compounds: Saccharose (up to 27% in the pressed sugar beet) Other oligosaccharides: refined sugar, ketose. Polysaccharides: including galactans, arabans, pectin. Fruit acids: including L(-)-malic acid, D(+)-tartaric acid, oxaluric acid, adipic acid, citric acid, glycolic acid, glutaric acid. Amino acids: including asparagine, glutamine. Betaine (trimethylglycine) Triterpene saponins.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Uruguay.

DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs

Introgression arising from crop-to-wild gene flow provides novel sources of genetic variation in plant species complexes. Hybridization within the Beta vulgaris species complex is of immediate concern; crop lineages (B. vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) hybridize easily with their wild relatives (B. vulgaris ssp. maritima) thereby threatening wild beet gene diversity with genetic swamping. Hybridization 'hotspots' occur in European seed production areas because inland ruderal wild beets occur and reproduce in sympatry with cultivated beets. We studied gene flow occurring between seed-producing cultivars and ruderal wild B. vulgaris in southwestern France to determine whether feral beets, arising from unharvested cultivated seed, represent an opportunity for crop-to-wild gene flow. We surveyed 42 inland ruderal beet populations located near seed production fields for nucleo-cytoplasmic variation and used a cytoplasmic marker diagnostic of cultivated lines. Occurrence of cultivated-type cytoplasm within ruderal populations clearly reflected events of crop seed escape. However, we found no genetic signatures of nuclear cultivated gene introgression, which suggests past introgression of cultivated cytoplasm into a wild nuclear background through seed escape rather than recent direct pollen flow. Overall, patterns of genetic structure suggested that inland ruderal wild beet populations act as a metapopulation, with founding events involving a few sib groups, followed by low rates of seed or pollen gene flow after populations are established. Altogether, our results indicate that a long-lived seed bank plays a key role in maintaining cultivated-type cytoplasm in the wild and highlight the need for careful management of seed production areas where wild and cultivated relatives co-occur. © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs

1) Red Beet root is a rich source of betacyanin.  These are nitrogen contg. compds. widely used as non toxic food colorants.  The deep red color of beets is due to the presence of betalain pigments.  There are two categories of betalains: the purple betacyanins and yellow betaxanthines pigments, functionally replace anthocyanins in 13 taxons grouped in Caryophyllales order.  The major advantages of betalains as dietary antioxidants are their bioavailability, which is greater than most flavonoids, and their superior stability in comparison to anthocyanin.  Although they are used as food colorants, remain understudied in terms of their antioxidant potential.  So the present study was attempted to ext. and to evaluate the content of betalain and its antioxidant potential by enzymic and non enzymic method from red beet root.  This study has revealed that some of the antioxidant enzymes that are found to provide a protection against the reactive oxygen species are superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and ascorbate oxidase were found to be higher.  The non-enzymic method was done by quantification of vitamin C, and DPPH method.  From HPTLC anal., it was confirmed the presence of two flavonoid compds.  So the above study reveals that, the high antioxidant potential may be due to presence of these two flavonoid compds.  Because of its high antioxidant potential, the prodn. of beet root pigments has to be performed using cell suspensions and transformed roots in bioreactors.

2) The aim of this study was to det. if the increase of the initial sucrose concn. (ISC) improves cell growth and arabinogalactan protein (AGP) secretion of Beta vulgaris L. cultures.  ISC tested were 43.8, 87.6 and 131.4 mM.  Cell growth and specific growth rate were improved increasing the ISC.  Cell cultures grown with ISC 43.8 mM were fed with sucrose, and cellular growth was enhanced twofold, revealing the stimulatory effect of sucrose on cell growth.  The AGP secretion was stimulated, increasing the ISC.  This event was partially assocd. with the exponential growth phase of the culture.  AGP pptn. with Yariv reagent of cell cultures inhibited cell growth without changes in viability.  The assay of sucrose feeding confirmed the relationship between cell growth and AGP secretion.  Thus, AGPs may be required for cell division.  The increase of AGP secretion by ISC coincided with a higher cellular aggregation, suggesting a possible role of AGP as cellular adhesion mols.  To det. whether AGP secretion is also stimulated by an osmotic effect, mannitol was fed to raise the osmotic potential from 23.78 to 95.97 mOsm kg-1.  Mannitol was not used for cell growth, but AGP secretion was stimulated sixfold in relation to the control.  These results are important for understanding the possible factors involved in the AGP secretion of plant cell culture and that may be considered to improve the AGP prodn.

3) Multielements K, Na, Ca, Mg, Zn, Fe and Cu were estd. in 25 composite samples of sugar beet, extd. sugar beet pulp, dried sugar beet pulp, molasses, and white sugar collected during 50 days of the 2005 campaign in one beet sugar factory, and in 65 soil samples collected from the fields where beet was grown.  Mean total contents of analyzed elements in sugar beet and different sugar beet based products were in the range: 18.11-37510 mg/kg dry matter (d.m.) for K, 6.54-8945 mg/kg d.m. for Na, 14.36-5220 mg/kg d.m. for Ca, 0.09-2550 mg/kg d.m. for Mg, 0.01-10.85 mg/kg d.m. for Zn, 0.42-360.4 mg/kg d.m. for Fe, and 0.07-7.09 mg/kg d.m. for Cu.  Mean extractable amts. of these elements in the soils sampled in the fields where beet was cultivated were as follows: 207.6 mg/kg d.m., 60.3 mg/kg d.m., 14.4 mg/kg d.m., 404.7 mg/kg d.m., 1.44 mg/kg d.m., 9.89 mg/kg d.m. and 1.61 mg/ kg d.m., resp.  In order to get a better insight into the metal patterns of the investigated samples, three statistical techniques were used.  Principal component anal. (PCA) and cluster anal. (CA) approved to be more powerful than Spearman's test in revealing the specific correlations among the variables (i.e. metal contents).  PCA and CA pointed out the specific metal pattern of molasses on one hand and of sugar beet, extd. and dried sugar beet pulps on the other.  Moreover, the chemometrical approach pointed out that main components that classified the metal behavior in the examd. samples were the ones correlated with Na and K on one hand, and on the other hand with the remaining metals.

Origin: Anemia

Uses: Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, United States

1) GONZALEZ, Matías ; LOMBARDO, Atilio ; VALLARINO, Aida. Plantas de la medicina vulgar del Uruguay. Montevideo : Talleres Gráficos, 1937, p.9-10.

2) PDR for herbal medicines . 4th ed. Montvale: Thomson Healthcare Inc, 2007. p. 70.

3) ARNAUD, J.-F., et al. Fine-scale geographical structure of genetic diversity in inland wild beet populations. Molecular Ecology. 2009, vol.18, nº15 , p.3201-3215.
 
3) SUGANYADEVI, P.,et al. Extraction of betacyanin from red beet root (Beta vulgaris L.) and to evaluate its antioxidant potential.  Journal of Pharmacy Research. 2010, vol.3, nº11, p.2693-2696
 
4) CAPATAZ-TAFUR, Jacqueline, et al. Sucrose induces arabinogalactan protein secretion by Beta vulgaris L. cell suspension cultures. Acta Physiologiae Plantarum. 2010, vol.32, nº4, p.757-764.
 
5) SKRBIC, Biljana; DURISIC-MIADENOVIC, Natasa; MACVANIN, Nada. Determination of metal contents in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) and its products: empirical and chemometrical approach.  Food Science and Technology Research. 2010, vol.16, nº2, p.123-134

6) Geraldini , Isanete, Journal of Ethnopharmacology v. 173, 2015 . -- p. 383-423