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. 2011 Jan 18;12(1):655-67.
doi: 10.3390/ijms12010655.

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) as an alternative source of oleanolic and ursolic acids

Chunhua Zhou  1 , Ying Zhang, Yanle Sheng, Daqiu Zhao, Sansan Lv, Yue Hu, Jun Tao
Affiliations

Herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) as an alternative source of oleanolic and ursolic acids

Chunhua Zhou et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) have been proven to possess many biological activities, and much attention is focused on the search for plants which are rich in OA and UA. In this report, the OA and UA accumulation characteristics were investigated in 47 cultivars of Chinese herbaceous peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) and were followed in three cultivars over different developmental stages as measured by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). OA and UA levels in leaves and stems demonstrated an overall upward trend from May 1 to September 15 except for UA in the leaves of "Hong Feng". The maximum values of OA and UA in leaves of "Yangfei Chu Yu", "Fen Zhu Pan" and "Hong Feng" were 852.98, 575.60, 290.48 μg/g FW and 924.94, 827.36, 432.67 μg/g FW, respectively. The maximum values of OA and UA in stems of "Yangfei Chu Yu", "Fen Zhu Pan" and "Hong Feng" were 359.28, 90.49, 43.90 μg/g FW and 326.86, 82.25, 56.63 μg/g FW, respectively. OA and UA contents in leaves of 47 different herbaceous peony cultivars ranged from 66.73-618.12 and 36.23-665.14 μg/g FW, respectively, with average values of 171.62 and 227.57 μg/g FW, respectively. The results suggested that the aboveground parts of herbaceous peony may be used as an alternative source of OA and UA for medicinal purposes in addition to its ornamental purposes.

Keywords: HPLC; Paeonia lactiflora; cultivar; oleanolic acid; ursolic acid.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
OA and UA contents (μg/g FW) in leaves of three herbaceous peony cultivars at different developmental stages. (A) OA content; (B) UA content.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of OA and UA contents (μg/g FW) in leaves of herbaceous peony “Yangfei Chu Yu” at different developmental stages.
Figure 3
Figure 3
OA and UA contents (μg/g FW) in stems of three herbaceous peony cultivars at different developmental stages. (A) OA content; (B) UA content.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of OA and UA contents (μg/g FW) in stems of herbaceous peony “Yangfei Chu Yu” at different developmental stages.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of the total OA and UA contents (μg/g FW) in leaves of different herbaceous peony cultivars. I, high-content; II, medium-content; III, low-content.
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