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Natural resource, phenolic compounds, .catechin, afzelechin, chlorogenic acid
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de Albuquerque RDDG, Ganoza-Yupanqui ML, León-Vargas FR et al. UPLC-MS/MS analysis and chemical profile of Ficus pertusa L. bark, an ethnomedicinal resource from intertropical America. [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. F1000Research 2024, 13:1042 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.154761.1)
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Brief Report
UPLC-MS/MS analysis and chemical profile of Ficus pertusa L. bark, an ethnomedicinal resource from intertropical America.
[version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]
PUBLISHED 10 Sep 2024
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Abstract
Corresponding author:
Ricardo D.D.G. de Albuquerque
Competing interests:
No competing interests were disclosed.
Grant information:
The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work.
Copyright:
© 2024 de Albuquerque RDDG et al.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
How to cite: de Albuquerque RDDG, Ganoza-Yupanqui ML, León-Vargas FR et al. UPLC-MS/MS analysis and chemical profile of Ficus pertusa L. bark, an ethnomedicinal resource from intertropical America. [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. F1000Research 2024, 13:1042 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.154761.1)
First published: 10 Sep 2024, 13:1042 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.154761.1)
Latest published: 10 Sep 2024, 13:1042 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.154761.1)
Introduction
Ficus pertusa commonly known as “renaquilla”, “renaco”, “matapalo”, “yapit”, among others, is a Moraceae native from Mexico, Central and South America and used by local people to treat health problems. It has been reported that the bark is usually oriented in case of inflammations, herniations and traumatisms, whereas other reports mention the use of this species for toothache treatment and as a natural herbicide.1–3 Furthermore, previous studies shown the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of extracts and fractions from F. pertusa.2,4 However, scarce information about its chemical composition is found in the literature, so that until this date, no chemical works were described for the polar compounds from F. pertusa bark. Then, the aim of this work was to evaluate the main bark’s phytoconstituents through UPLC-MS/MS analysis, as well as quantify its phenolic profile, which can help to understand the basis for the ethnomedicinal use and its biological and pharmacological mechanisms.
Methods
Plant material and preparation of the extracts
Ficus pertusa bark was collected from IMET (3.7646°S - 73.2726°W; 3.7643°S - 73.2721°W), Iquitos, Peru, on December 14, 2022. The plant material (1.5 g) were powdered and exhaustively extracted at room temperature with 96% ethanol (100 mL, local production). After evaporation under reduced pressure (40°C), it was obtained the crude hydroethanolic extract (15.5 mg). The identification of the substances were carried out using Waters MassLynx SCN781 version 4.1. MassLynx™ software (Free Trial is disponible). After, Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) was performed using standard methods for terpenoids, saponins and tannins identification.5
UPLC-MS/MS chemical identification
A UPLC Waters XEVO TQ-XS system (Register N° 042920-2022 National University of Trujillo – Peru) was employed for the chemical analysis of F. pertusa. For this analysis, 2 mg of the dried material was dissolved in 2 mL of methanol and then filtered through a 0.22 μm PTFE filter. Liquid chromatography was conducted using an ACQUITY UHPLC HSS C18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.8 μm, Waters) maintained at 25°C. The mobile phases consisted of 1% formic acid (Sigma-Aldrich) aqueous solution (A) and acetonitrile (Sigma-Aldrich) with 1% formic acid (B). The gradient program began with 10% B at the start, increased to 20% B over 6 minutes, then ramped up to 50% B in 1 minute, followed by a rise to 55% B within 7 minutes, further increased to 90% B in 12 minutes, and finally returned to the initial conditions within 4 minutes. The flow rate was set at 0.3 mL per minute, and the injection volume was 10 μL. Detection of all compounds was carried out using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ion source (ESI) operating in both positive and negative ionization modes. The cone voltage was maintained at 40 V, with a drying temperature of 450°C and a dry gas flow rate of 13 L/min. Nitrogen was utilized as the dry gas, nebulizing gas, and collision gas. The collision energy was set to 30 eV. HRESIMS and MS/MS spectra were recorded over an m/z range from 50 to 2000 amu.
Total phenolic content
Total phenol content of F. pertusa extract was estimated using Folin-Ciocalteau reagent based assay using gallic acid as standard.6 Each extract was dissolved in distillate water (29.5 mg/mL) and 500 μL was added to the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent (2.5 mL), followed by the addition of 1.5 mL of 20% of Na2CO3. The mixture was incubated at 50°C for 30 min and the absorbance of the developed colour was recorded at 765 nm using UV-vis spectrophotometer. The same procedure was repeated to aliquots of 10-100 ppm aqueous gallic acid solutions used as standard for calibration curve. Total phenolic value was obtained from the regression equations and expressed as mg/g gallic acid equivalent (GAE). The readings were performed in duplicate.
Total flavonoid content
The total flavonoid content in the *F. pertusa* extract was measured using a modified version of the method by Rolim et al. The equivalent concentration of total flavonoids in rutin was determined spectrophotometrically at 360 nm, using a standard curve of rutin absorbance for comparison. The standard curve included rutin concentrations of 12.5, 25.0, 50.0, 75.0, and 85.0 μg/mL. A solvent mixture of 95% ethanol and 0.02M acetic acid (99:1) was used to prepare all solutions. Each measurement was taken in triplicate.
Results and discussion
In total, 19 substances were identified in the bark extract from Ficus sp through UPLC-MS/MS analysis (Table 1 and Figure 1), so that condensed tannins, phenolic acids and flavonoids were the main secondary metabolites group. The condensed tannins were mostly represented by (epi) catechin and (epi) afzelechin dimers or trimers (presence of monomer fragments m/z = 289 and 273 amu) also known as procyanidins, whereas the phenolic acids protocatechuic acid [M-H = 153]. gentisic acid [m-h = 153], chlorogenic acid [M-H = 353], besides the flavonoids luteolin [M-H = 285] and epicatechin gallate [M-H = 441] were the other substances classified among the phenolic compounds. Also, it was identified the malic acid [M-H = 133] and quinic acid [M-H = 191] as main organic acids from the bark extract, the azelaic acid [M-H = 187] as a representative dicarboxylic acid, and the phenylpropanoid cerberic acid A [M-H = 353]. This profile of metabolites is commonly found for Ficus species, so that catechin and afzelechin dimers/trimers-based condensed tannins, as well as their monomers and luteolin derivatives, are prominent substances in these species.8–11
Table 1. Phytochemicals from Ficus pertusa bark extract identified by UPLC MS/MS.
Figure 1. Chromatogram of F. pertusa bark extract analysed by UPLC-MS/MS.
The flavonoid content expressed in rutin equivalent was equal to 3.14 ± 0.05 %, which was little higher than expected, when compared to the results of quantifying the flavonoids present in different varieties of Ficus carica, which in turn showed values within the range between 1.1 and 1.6 % for dry extracts.12 In turn, the total phenolic content expressed in GAE was equal to 213 ± 25 mg GAE/g. The result was also considered high when compared to the aforementioned study, which presented values that covered the range between 42 and 59 mg GAE/g.12
It has been reported that the procyanidins are well known secondary metabolites with broad anti-inflammatory activity, partially explained by their high antioxidant potential, which in turn minimizes the tissue damage in inflammation process. Moreover, procyanidins modulate the arachidonic acid pathway, the inhibition of the gene transcription, protein expression and enzymatic activity of eicosanoid chain, besides supress the production and secretion of inflammatory mediators, the inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activation, and the modulation of NF-ĸB pathway.13,14 Furthermore, luteolin and chlorogenic acid also can contribute for the anti-inflammatory property of F. pertusa, since the first one regulates transcription factors such as STAT3, NF-κB, and AP-1,15 while the chlorogenic acid can decrease the secretion of several pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-8 and IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α, as well as COX 2 expression.16 A previous chemical study of the F. pertusa bark identified the structure of triterpenes and steroids, as for example β-amirin acetate,3 which in turn also possess remarkably anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity, possibly contributing for a synergic effect.17
Conclusion
In total, 19 substances were identified in the hydroalcoholic extract of F. pertusa bark, with a predominance of condensed tannins, phenolic acids, and flavonoids, such as procyanidins, chlorogenic acid, luteolin, among others. The presence of different types of procyanidins and other phenolic compounds may be related to the ethnomedicinal use of the bark, as they are related to anti-inflammatory/analgesic activities. Moreover, the study contributes to the phytochemical knowledge of F. petusa, which in turn is a well-described ethnomedicinal resource in native American communities.
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how to cite this article
de Albuquerque RDDG, Ganoza-Yupanqui ML, León-Vargas FR et al. UPLC-MS/MS analysis and chemical profile of Ficus pertusa L. bark, an ethnomedicinal resource from intertropical America. [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]. F1000Research 2024, 13:1042 (https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.154761.1)
NOTE: If applicable, it is important to ensure the information in square brackets after the title is included in all citations of this article.
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