Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 MSc. Student, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Golestan, Iran
2 Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Golestan, Iran
3 Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Golestan, Iran
Abstract
Silybum marianum L. is an annual or biannual herbaceous species from Asteraceae which is important in medicinal industry. The main components of this species are various flavonolignans consisting of silibinin, isosilibinin, silychristin, silydianin and taxifolin that are known as silymarin. This species is used in treatment of heart diseases, diabetes, blood cholesterol, liver diseases (jaundice, cirrhosis and hepatitis), and gallbladder disease. In this research, different organs of Silybum marianum (young and old leaves, stem, root, inflorescence and seeds) were separately collected during the different months in the Gorgan region and then total flavonoid, silymarin content, and the amount of silymarin components were measured by HPLC method. Our results showed that the highest amounts of total flavonoid were observed in the seed and inflorescence samples and then in the stem samples. Meanwhile the effect of time on flavonoid content and also the effect of sampling month and organ factors on flavonoid content were significant. Data from the HPLC analyses revealed that the silymarin compositions, observed in this study, were similar and the main difference among samples was the amount of silymarin composition. The highest amount of silydianin was observed in the stem sample; however the amount of other components were higher in the seed sample. According to the results, Gorgan is a suitable region for the cultivation of Silybium marinum and since the stem of this species contain significant amounts of silymarin, it could be considered as an optimal source of the production of pharmaceutical substances.
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