Investigation of the extract's composition of Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare)

The characteristics of Viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare) plant, its pharmacological properties, and extracts’ composition are presented in this study. Results of the literature analysis, data on the biologically active compounds and areas of use of this medicinal plant are summarized. Viper's bugloss (E. vulgare) is a species of flowering plant in the borage family Boraginaceae. It is native to most of Europe as well as western and central Asia. Viper's bugloss (E. vulgare) is a plant that has been utilized as food (honey), medicine, a poison, an oil, and as a dye and tannin-producing ornamental plant. Viper's bugloss (E. vulgare) is especially rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolcarboxylic acids, sterones and naphthoquinones. In traditional medicine, Viper's bugloss (E. vulgare) is utilized as exhilarant and a mood stimulant. That is why one of the possible uses of this plant is considered to be treatment of depressive states. Like most representatives of Boraginaceae family, it has been insufficiently studied. No previous work quantifying flavonoids content of aerial parts of Viper's bugloss (E. vulgare) growing in Ukraine has been presented. Continuing the studies of this species, the aqueous and ethanolic extracts from Viper's bugloss (E. vulgare) aerial parts were obtained and their phytochemical composition was investigated. For the first time, the qualitative analysis of biologically active compounds in Viper’s bugloss’s extract as well as the quantitative analysis of flavonoids by aluminum chloride spectrophotometric method are reported. The experimental results showed that the total concentration of flavonoids was 2.59% in the extract. The maximum yield of extractives was found to be 16%. The obtained research data will be used in future investigations.