Comparative analysis of saponins, flavonoids, phenolics and antioxidant activities of field acclimatized and in vitro propagated Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell from different locations in India

Bacopa monnieri (L.) Pennell, a well-documented nootropic plant, commonly called 'herb of grace' and traditionally Brahmi, is extensively used in herbal formulations for neurological disorder. However, variations in active phytopharmaceutically important compounds in the formulations often affect their therapeutic efficacy and market acceptance. In this study, we compared pharmaceutically important phytocompounds viz. saponins, flavonoids and phenolics along with antioxidant activities in field acclimatized B. monnieri plants from different geographical locations in India. Results have shown comparatively higher saponins, phenolics and flavonoids yield in BM-7 (field acclimatized from Haridwar, Uttranchal) and higher antioxidant activities in BM-4 (field acclimatized from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh). The soil samples of the plants sources have also shown variations in the macronutrient compositions. In comparison, when propagated in in vitro conditions using four different culture media, all plants respond differently with comparatively higher dry weights in Murashige and Skoog medium (1962). Further, analyses of the phytocompounds in MS medium revealed variations in the phytocompounds yield and antioxidant activities. While BMT-3 (Jammu) and BMT-6 (Lucknow) reported around 9 to 11 fold increase in saponins yield compared to field acclimatized plants, BMT-2 (Delhi) showed 10 and 12 fold increase in total phenolic content and antioxidant activities, respectively. The studies may help understanding the role of environmental and in vitro propagation conditions in regulating biosynthesis of therapeutically important phytocompounds better, and thereby useful in developing a scalable process.