Identification of phytochemical components of aloe plantlets by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Abstract

Aloe vera plants were collected from Blochestan, Iran and were transferred to tissue culture laboratory. Shoot tip explants were inoculated on solid MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mgl^-1 benzyl adenine + 0.5 mgl^-1 α-naphthalene acetic acid and sub-cultured on the same medium for plantlet production and propagation once every four weeks. After plantlets production, extracts of A. vera plantlet were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). According to the results, 26 phytochemical compounds were identified. Results indicate that these compounds of micropropagated plantlets are similar to the phytochemical compounds identified by other researchers in aloe plants. With attention on the obtained results of GC-MS analysis, the obtained compounds of micropropagated plantlets did not vary in relation to aloe plants. These results also indicate that the use of propagated plantlets by tissue culture to produce and extract phytochemical compounds is useful and efficient, as was observed and expected. So, we can use this method (tissue culture) instead of aloe cultivation which is limited in some regions of the world.

Key words: Aloe medicinal plant, phytochemical components, micropropagation, tissue culture, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis.