UPLC‐MS/MS Profile of Alkaloids with Cytotoxic Properties of Selected Medicinal Plants of the <i>Berberidaceae</i> and <i>Papaveraceae</i> Families

Abstract

Cancer is one of the most occurring diseases in developed and developing countries. Plant-based compounds are still researched for their anticancer activity and for their quantity in plants. Therefore, the modern chromatographic methods are applied to quantify them in plants, for example, UPLC-MS/MS (ultraperformance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the content of sanguinarine, berberine, protopine, and chelidonine in <i>Dicentra spectabilis</i> (L.) Lem., <i>Fumaria officinalis</i> L., <i>Glaucium flavum</i> Crantz, <i>Corydalis cava</i> L., <i>Berberis thunbergii</i> DC., <i>Meconopsis cambrica</i> (L.) Vig., <i>Mahonia aquifolium</i> (Pursh) Nutt., <i>Macleaya cordata</i> Willd., and <i>Chelidonium majus</i> L. For the first time, N,N-dimethyl-hernovine was identified in <i>M. cambrica</i>, <i>B. thunbergii</i>, <i>M. aquifolium</i>, <i>C. cava</i>, <i>G. flavum</i>, and <i>C. majus</i>; methyl-hernovine was identified in <i>G. flavum</i>; columbamine was identified in <i>B. thunbergii</i>; and methyl-corypalmine, chelidonine, and sanguinarine were identified in <i>F. officinalis</i> L. The richest source of protopine among all the examined species was <i>M. cordata</i> (5463.64 ± 26.3 <i>μ</i>g/g). The highest amounts of chelidonine and sanguinarine were found in <i>C. majus</i> (51,040.0 ± 1.8 <i>μ</i>g/g and 7925.8 ± 3.3 <i>μ</i>g/g, resp.), while <i>B. thunbergi</i> contained the highest amount of berberine (6358.4 ± 4.2 <i>μ</i>g/g).