The silymarin composition… and why does it matter???
Section snippets
Chemical compounds mentioned in this article
Silybin (PubChem CID: 31553)
Silymarin (PubChem CID: 7073228)
Silydianin (PubChem CID: 11982272)
Silychristin (PubChem CID: 441764)
Taxifolin (PubChem CID: 439533)
Isosilybin (PubChem CID: 3085830)
Oleic acid (PubChem CID: 445639)
Linoleic acid (PubChem CID: 5280450)
Palmitic acid (PubChem CID: 985)
Parameters affecting silymarin content and composition
Silymarin is the most frequently extracted from the whole pulverized seeds, or from the seed cake obtained by cold pressing the oil but it can also be obtained from whole plants (El Sherif, Khattab, Ibrahim, & Ahmed, 2013) or cultured cells of S. marianum (Cacho, Morán, Corchete, & Fernández-Tárrago, 1999). The silymarin content and composition strongly depends on S. marianum cultivar, geographical location of cultivation (soil physical properties, weather), and agronomic conditions (time of
Alternative use of milk thistle
Although S. marianum is mainly cultivated to produce silymarin for the production of food supplements and over the counter drugs, various parts of the plant can have also alternative use. For example, the whole milk thistle was found to be a promising crop for biomass production, which yielded more energy (275 GJ ha−1) than globe artichoke and cultivated cardoon (Ledda, Deligios, Farci, & Sulas, 2013). However, the most promising for alternative use is milk thistle oil. Non-medical utilization of
Determination of flavonoids and flavonolignans in silymarin
HPLC-UV is the most widely and universal analytical method for the identification of flavonolignans in silymarin. Other analytical methods such as UV spectrometry, electromigration and electroanalytical methods, thin-layer chromatography and especially LC-MS are useful complementary methods for determination and quantification of the analytes (Csupor, Csorba, & Hohmann, 2016) but they are not suitable for ordinary use.
Conclusions
S. marianum is a versatile plant that can be utilized in a variety of ways. Not only seeds, but also other parts of the plant contain varying amounts of the flavonolignans. The amounts of silymarin (extract) obtained also varies depending on factors such as location, time of sowing and climate conditions. Silymarin is very popular and obviously efficient component of numerous nutraceuticals and preparations from S. marianum are also used in veterinary medicine and cosmetics. The seeds contain
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Czech Science Foundation (15-03037S), of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (16-27317A) and COST Actions CM1307 “Targeted chemotherapy towards diseases caused by endoparasites” and FA1403 “Interindividual variation in response to consumption of plant food bioactives and determinants involved” co-funded by Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, projects LD15081 and LD15082, respectively.
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