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Content and distribution of prunasin in Perilla frutescens

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Abstract

Perilla frutescens var. crispa (Lamiaceae) is an annual plant that is the botanical origin of the natural medicine “Soyo” listed in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia and is also used as a fragrant vegetable. Its characteristic components are essential oils and anthocyanins. Cyanogenic glycosides have also been isolated from perilla, but no reports have clarified which cyanogenic glycosides are abundant or differences in cyanogenic glycoside content according to the extent of perilla leaf growth or growth stage. Here, for the first time we determined the content and distributions of cyanogenic glycosides in perilla. The picric acid test, a common qualitative test for cyanogenic compounds, was used to quickly and semi-quantitatively detect cyanogenic compounds in perilla. Prunasin was the most abundant cyanogenic glycoside. The prunasin content per unit mass of perilla leaves varied by strain, regardless of leaf color or the main compound in the essential oils of each strain. Prunasin was higher in fresh leaves than in dried leaves and higher in young leaves than in mature leaves. When perilla was cultivated in an outdoor field, the prunasin content was initially high during the vegetative stage in summer before decreasing and then increasing until flower buds were beginning to form, and then gradually decreased again after flowering.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mae Chu Co. Ltd., Tochimoto Tenkaido Co. Ltd., Kotaro Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Mikuni & Co. Ltd., and Nippon Funmatsu Yakuhin Co. Ltd. for providing us with perilla herbs.

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This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, 46-29 Yoshidashimoadachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Ryota Akatsuka & Michiho Ito

  2. Department of Physics and Chemistry, Yamagata Prefectural Institute of Public Health, 1-6-6 Tokamachi, Yamagata, 990-0031, Japan

    Ryota Akatsuka

  3. Division of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Narcotics, National Institute of Health Sciences, 3-25-26 Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, 210-9501, Japan

    Michiho Ito

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  1. Ryota Akatsuka
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Correspondence to Michiho Ito.

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Akatsuka, R., Ito, M. Content and distribution of prunasin in Perilla frutescens. J Nat Med 77, 207–218 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-022-01654-x

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