Phytochemical study of secondary metabolites of plants genus Allium, growing in Georgia and determination of their biological activity

The genus Allium belongs to the family Alliaceae (now included in Amaryllidaceae). This genus involves up to 1233 species, growing especially in the northern hemisphere. The flora of the Caucasus, and especially that of Georgia, is highly endemic. In the region, about 21% of the flora (900 species) are endemic, about 600 are Caucasian endemic species and about 300 species are endemic to Georgia. The objects of this research were to study the plants A. saxatile and A. ponticum growing in Georgia. Powdered plants were extracted with 80% EtOH, using an ultrasonic water bath at 50 ˚C. Dried extracts of each plant were subjected to Diaion HP-20 column chromatography. The mobile phase was H2O-MeOH in gradient condition (100:0; 50:50; 0:100 v/v) and finally EtOAc to give 4 enriched fractions of each plant (A.S.F1_H2O; A.S.F2_MeOH-50%; A.S.F3_MeOH-100%; A.S.F4_EtOAc; A.P.F1_H2O; A.P.F2_MeOH-50%; A.P.F3_MeOH-100%; A.P.F4_EtOAc). Cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, gastroprotective and antioxidant activities of total extracts of both plants and these fractions were evaluated using different assays. During the research, the total furostanolic content was quantified, in the plant material and crude extract of both plants. Cytotoxicity was studied on melanoma cells and according to the results, it was found that the total extract of A. saxatile and 100%-MeOH(A.S.F3 and A.P.F3) fraction of both plats exhibit cytotoxic activity. Results of other biological tests have shown that total extracts of plants and fractions A.S.F2, A.S.F3, A.P.F2, and A.P.F3 have analgesic activity. Anti-inflammatory activity and gastroprotective activity are mostly exhibited in the plant A. saxatile and fraction A.S.F3_MeOH-100%. Fractions A.S.F2 and A.P.F2 have shown antioxidant activity. Individual compounds were isolated from these active fractions and the determination of their chemical structure is ongoing.
All these obtained results are significant contributions to studying these species which were never investigated and to finding new sources of biologically active compounds.