PROFILING OF PHENOLIC AND FLAVONOID COMPOUNDS OF IN VITRO BORAGO OFFICINALIS L. PLANTLETS: A PROMISING PLANT IN THERAPEUTIC NUTRITION

Borago officinalis, sometimes known as borage, a medicinal and
ornamental plant that grows throughout the Mediterranean basin, Western
Asia, and parts of North Africa, South America, and Continental Europe. As
a result of the importance of this plant, the aim of this study is to propagate
it using tissue culture technique and identify the most bioactive compounds
(phenolic and flavonoid). Shoot tip explants were grown on MS-medium
without growth regulators or with 0.5 and 1.0 mg/l of the following growth
regulators: kinnetin (kin), 6-(,-dimethylallylamino) purine (2iP), and
thidiazuron (TDZ). After 30 days, shoot length, number of auxiliary buds,
and observed rooting were recorded. The produced plantlets were subjected
to extraction with 80% methanol, followed by HPLC profiling of phenolic
and flavonoid compounds. The result revealed that, basal MS-medium
without cytokinins resulted in higher quality shoots with root development
than the other used media. The formation of small flowers was also observed
on the plantlets that formed on the basal MS-medium after three subcultures.
Rosmarinic acid showed the most frequent and prevalent compound,
recorded 166.64 µg/g DW, followed by apigenin (55.63 µg/g DW), and
caffeic (27.25 µg/g DW). In vitro Borago officinalis can be utilized as a
source of phenolics and flavonoids, especially rosmarinic acid.