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

A practical, economical, and industrial process for the enzymic prodn. of difructose anhydride III (DFA III) was investigated for crude inulin prepd. from chicory roots using Arthrobacter sp. H65-7 fructosyltransferase. A comparable level of DFA III prodn. to that from com. inulin was obtained using crude inulin, suggesting the feasibility of this prodn. process.

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) Cytokinins were extd. from the explants of Cichorium intybus L. roots grown under flowering inductive (long-day and red light), or non inductive conditions (short-day).  Flowering was expressed as percent after 8 wk of their development.  Overall, cytokinins levels exhibited biphasic trends with initial increasing concns. followed by a decrease over time.  The highest content of cytokinins was obsd. in explants exposed to either red light or long-day periods.  Measured max. levels of up to 525 ng.g-1 dry wt. were obtained under red light exposure conditions.  Cytokinins concns. measured in materials cultured under long-day conditions were slightly lower by quite similar to those obtained under red-light growth conditions.  In contrast, much lower peak values (not exceeding 155 ng.g-1 dry wt.) were obtained under short-day exptl. conditions.  The in vitro development of C. intybus under both long-day periods and exposure to red light resulted in percent flowering of 55.75% and 64.28%, resp.  No flowering was obsd. under short-day exptl. conditions.  Thus, both endogenous content of cytokinins and flowering of C. intybus grown in vitro are dependent on both light quality and length of the photoperiod.

2) A consensus genetic map for chicory (2n = 2x = 18) was obtained after the integration of mol. marker data of two industrial chicory progenies (K28K59, Rubis118) and one witloof chicory progeny (BR).  As a limited no. of co-dominant markers was available at the beginning of this work, three different microsatellite-enriched libraries were produced from genomic DNA, resulting in 420, 719 and 1,251 sequences, resp.  The level of informative Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) sequences from the three libraries ranged from 28 to 40%, thus defining a set of 730 SSR markers available for polymorphism screening.  A subset of 81 Sequence-Tagged Sites (STS) developed from EST, cDNA, genes, and non-coding sequences was screened through Single Strand Conformational Polymorphism (SSCP) anal., leading to 46 polymorphic loci integrated in the genetic maps.  Markers were grouped and ordered on 9 homologous Linkage Groups (LG) for each of the three maps: 274 markers in K28K59, 282 markers in Rubis118, 178 markers in BR.  Co-linear regions between maps were identified through 193  bridge' markers that allowed the integration of the 9 homologous LG in a consensus map contg. 472 markers and covering 878 cM.  Comparison across maps revealed the presence of 4 conserved regions with significant distorted markers, also defined as Segregation Distortion Regions (SDR), affected by gametic or zygotic selection factors.  Marker distribution was not always uniform; 6 LG possessed homologous clustered regions in all maps.  The consensus map could be the starting point for the identification and the cloning of major genes and QTL in fundamental and applied genetic areas in chicory.

3) Plants belonging to the genus Cichorium are used as leafy vegetable.  Varieties of Chichorium intybus, commonly known as leaf chicory, have also been used in folk medicine to treat liver disorders and inflammation.  Here, the authors report bioactive anthocyanin content in C. intybus varieties Balou, Indigo, Manchini, Leonardo, and Erfano and functional food quality based on in vitro lipid peroxidn. (LPO) and cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and -2) enzyme inhibitory activities.  The chromatog. profiles of these varieties were similar and showed cyanidin-3-O-(6''-malonyl-beta-glucopyranoside) (I) as the major anthocyanin (>95%) with the highest amt. in Indigo (2.8 mg/g fresh wt.).  Chichorium intybus varieties were extd. with water and exts. were evaluated for LPO, COX-1 and -2 enzymes inhibitory activities at 250 mg/mL.  Among the varieties evaluated, the water exts. of Indigo, Balou, Leonardo, Manchini, and Erfano inhibited LPO by 92, 87.2, 79.6, 54.5, and 65.1%, resp.  In the COX enzyme inhibitory assay, the exts. of Leonardo, Balou, Indigo, Mancini, and Erfano inhibited COX-1 and COX-2 enzymes by 19.7, 26.4, 41.3, 15.6, 18.2% and 68.3, 76.5, 84.9, 43.7, 55.4%, resp.  Bioassay-guided isolation of I from C. intybus var. Indigo was achieved by using in vitro LPO and COX enzyme inhibitory assays.

Origin:
Native to Europe; commonly occurs in North West India, Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh.

Action:
Diuretic, laxative, cholagogue, mild hepatic. Excites peristalsis without affecting the functions of the stomach. Used in liver congestion, jaundice, rheumatic and gouty joints.

PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Raíz. 

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA
= Pharmacological action: Depurativa, laxante, digestivo, diurético, y purgante . 

POSOLOGÍA= Posology: Los preparados de raíz de achicoria se administra por vía interna, en forma de droga triturada para infusión y otras preparaciones. 

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Irulina: Presente en la raíz hasta en un 58% y en menor medida en las hojas. Principios amargos: intibina (en la raíz y en la parte aérea), lactucina y lactupicrina. Glucósido: Cicoriina (muy amargo presente en las flores). Ácidos orgánicos: clorogénico e isoclorogénico (en la raíz). Otros: sales minerales de potasio, látex (conteniendo lactonas sesquiterpénicas), taninos, ácido chicorésido o chicórico (en las hojas), levulosa (hojas y raíz). 

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Europa, Oriente, Uruguay.

-------------

Distribución: Regiones Atacama, Coquimbo, Valparaiso, Metropolitana de Santiago, O’Higgins, Maule, Nuble, Biobio, Araucania, Los Rios, Los Lagos, Magallanes. Archipielago Juan Fernandez e Isla de Pascua.

Usos medicinales: Tradicionalmente se utiliza para el tratamiento de la diarrea, el fortalecimiento de la prostata y otros organos reproductores, el tratamiento de la enfermedad pulmonar y la tos, la resaca, la purificacion de las vias biliares, las molestias hepaticas, y perdida temporal del apetito. El latex se usa como antiinflamatorio, diuretico y laxante.

------------

Efectos: depurativo, laxante suave, digestivo.

Otros antecedentes: su uso en falta de apetito y digestiones difíciles tiene alguna evidencia científica.

------------------

Parte utilizada:
Raíces y hojas
Propiedades:
Digestivo, ligeramente laxante, diurético, aperitivo y vermífugo.
Indicaciones:
Anorexia, trastornos digestivos y hepáticos, estreñimiento

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

2) 270 (doscientos setenta) plantas medicinales iberoamericanas. Santiago de Bogotá : CYTED-SECAB, 1995, p.51.

3) KIKUCHI, Hiroto, et al. Industrial production of difructose anhydride III (DFA III) from crude inulin extracted from chicory roots using Arthrobacter sp. H65-7 fructosyltransferase. Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering. 2009, vol.107, nº3, p.262-265.
 
4) ATTIBAYEBA, JEAN-LUC Badila; MARIE GENEVIEVE, Okiemy-Akeli. Changes in endogenous cytokinins and in vitro photoperiodic flowering induction in Cichorium intybus L. Pakistan Journal of Nutrition. 2010, vol.9, nº3, p.230-234.
 
5) CADALEN, T, et al. Development of SSR markers and construction of a consensus genetic map for chicory (Cichorium intybus L.). Molecular Breeding. 2010, vol.25, nº4, p.699-722.
 
6) MULABAGAL, Vanisree, et al.  Characterization and quantification of health beneficial anthocyanins in leaf chicory (Cichorium intybus) varieties.  European Food Research and Technology. 2009, vol.230, nº1, p.47-53.

7) ALONSO, Jorge R. Tratado de fitomedicina : bases clínicas y farmacológicas. Buenos Aires : ISIS, 1998, p. 152.

8) Plantas silvestres comestibles y medicinales de Chile y otras partes del mundo/Cordero R., Sebastián; Abella A., Lucía; Galvez L. Francisca; Corporación chilena de la madera: Concepción, 2017 . -- 292 p.

9) Hierbas medicinales/ Chile. Ministerio de Agricultura.  p.64

10) Khare, C.P./ Indian Medicinal Plants. -- Nueva Dheli: Springer, 2007 . - p. 836.

11) María Stella Cáceres A.; et al./ MANUAL DE USO DE HIERBAS MEDICINALES
DEL PARAGUAY/ Fundación celestina de Pérez Almada con apoyo de Unesco Montevideo. p. 34.