Abstract:

Leaves of Inula viscosa have been used in medicine from ancient times. Structures or cells with secreting activity were localized and a spectrum of products was histochemically identified within them. Leaf extracts were investigated with gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and thin-layer chromatography (TLC). Calluses produced from leaf-cell cultures were also subjected to histochemical reagents and tested with GC-MS and TLC to investigate their secreting ability compared with that in leaves. Little-differentiated callus cells are synthetically active and produce, as do its leaf cells, numerous polar compounds that could be of pharmaceutical interest. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 144, 437-448.

Keywords: anti-fungal agents; Compositae; pharmaceutical compounds; secondary metabolites; thin-layer chromatography; tissue culture

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2003.00264.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Athens, Athens 15701, Greece