Alkaloid Profiling of Conventionally Propagated and in vitro Raised Plants of Indian Snake Plant (Rauwolfia serpentina L.)

Abstract

The present investigation was carried to investigate alkaloid profiling of a woody perennial medicinal plant 'sarpagandha' (Rauwolfia serpentina L.) propagated through conventional method as well as in vitro condition. The crude alkaloid fraction was estimated highest in roots of in vitro grown plants (487 mg g^-1 dry wt) followed by roots of conventionally propagated plant (457 mg g^-1 dry wt). The lowest crude alkaloid fraction was detected in leaf tissue of conventionally propagated plants (189 mg g^-1 dry wt). The roots in vitro grown plants and conventionally propagated plants had higher crude alkaloid fraction than other parts of the plants. The thin layered chromatography analysis of all the samples, including roots, leaves and callus, showed that roots are rich in reserpine and they also contain other alkaloids besides reserpine. Callus tissues also contain reserpine as well as other alkaloids, but the other alkaloids could not be detected in the leave samples. But HP-thin layered chromatography analysis could able to detect the reserpine and other alkaloid in all samples. The alkaloid profiling through HP-TLC detected a number of alkaloids from all the plant samples. The highest reserpine content was obtained from the in vitro regenerated roots (35.27 mg g^-1) and the least reserpine (8.54 mg g^-1) was observed from the leaves conventionally propagated plants.