Tissue-specific variations of piperine in ten populations of Piper longum L.: bioactivities and toxicological profile

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 5062
• Main Authors: Biswas, Protha, Pandey, Devendra Kumar, Shekhawat, Mahipal S., Dey, Abhijit, Malik, Tabarak
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2024; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/449; 631/45; 631/61; Antioxidants; Fruits; Genotoxicity; Genotypes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Medicinal plants; multidisciplinary; Piper longum; Piperine; Propagation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Variation
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-52297-9

P. longum L., one of the most significant species of the genus Piperaceae, is most frequently employed in Indian-Ayurvedic and other traditional medicinal-systems for treating a variety of illnesses. The alkaloid piperine, is the key phytoconstituent of the plant, primarily responsible for its’ pharmacological-impacts. The aim of the study is to analyse the intra-specific variation in piperine content among different chemotypes (PL1 to PL 30) and identify high piperine yielding chemotype (elite-chemotype) collected from 10 different geographical regions of West Bengal by validated HPTLC chromatography method. The study also focused on the pharmacological-screening to better understand the antioxidant activity of the methanol extracts of P. longum by DPPH and ABTS radical-scavenging activity and genotoxic activity by Allium cepa root tip assay. It was found that the P. longum fruit chemotypes contain high amount piperine (highest 16.362 mg/g in chemotype PL9) than the stem and leaf chemotypes. Both DPPH and ABTS antioxidant assays revealed that P. longum showed moderate radical-scavenging activity and the highest activity was found in PL9 (fruit) chemotype with IC 50 values of 124.2 ± 0.97 and 104 ± 0.78 µg/ml respectively. The A. cepa root tip assay showed no such significant genotoxic-effect and change in mitotic-index. The quick, reproducible, and validated HPTLC approach offers a useful tool for determining quantitative variations of piperine among P. longum chemotypes from different geographical-regions and also according to the different tissues and choose elite genotypes with high piperine production for continued propagation and commercialization for the pharmaceutical sector. Additionally, the plant's in-vitro antioxidant property and lack of genotoxicity directly supports its’ widespread and long history of use as a medicinal and culinary plant.