Biomonitorated Chemical Profile of Piper marginatum Leaves during Ontogeny

The potential biological and chemistry of plants have been extensively investigated worldwide. However, studies using seedling tissues are limited which results in a knowledge gaps in the plant chemistry. Thus, the present work describes the biomonitored chemical profile of Piper marginatum leaves during ontogeny. The study revealed the presence of phenylpropanoids, such as elemicin, Z-asarone, E-asarone and dilapiol, in the extracts of adult leaves and seedlings with an average concentration of 23.9, 48.5, 55.5 and 5.9 mu g/mg, respectively, and elemicin was not detected in the seedling extracts. The chemical profiles of the leaf extracts showed variations during the ontogeny, which affected antibacterial and antifungal activities against seven microorganisms. The leaf extracts showed a strong antifungal activity with MIC of 78.15 mu g/mL, for Malassezia furfur, only from the eighth month of cultivation, where was observed a proportion of E-asarone:Z-asarone, E-asarone:dillapiole, Z-asarone:dillapiole of 0.4:3.8:8.8, respectively. The greater activity against bacteria was for the seedling extract of 6 monthold with a MIC of 625 mu g/mL. In this extract the proportion of E-asarone:Z-asarone, E-asarone:dillapiole, Z-asarone:dillapiole was found in a ratio of 1.4:7.6:5.4, respectively. The study showed the importance of the plant's age for its use as an antimicrobial. For our knowledge, this is the first biomonitored study during the development stages of a plant species associated with the chemical profile.

Automated summary

The study focused on the biomonitored chemical profile of Piper marginatum leaves during different growth stages, discovering variations in chemical composition and antimicrobial activities. Notably, the leaf extracts exhibited strong antifungal activity after the eighth month of cultivation, while the seedling extracts showed greater antibacterial activity.