Analysis of fatty acid composition content in the plant components of antidiabetic herbal mixture by GC-MS

Medical plants and their combinations due to the wide range of biologically active substances can influence on various links of the pathogenetic mechanism of development of diabetes mellitus and its complications. One of such combinations is an anidiabetic herbal mixture (Urtica dioica L. leaf, Rosa majalis L. fruits, Vaccinium myrtillus L. leaf, Mentha piperita L. herb and Taraxacum officinale L. roots) with established hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, pancreatoprotective activity in previous pharmacological study in vivo. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify and establish the fatty acid content in the plant components of antidiabetic herbal mixture. Fatty acids were separated by validated method of of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry after conversion into methyl esters. The result showed that Urtica dioica L. leaf and Vaccinium myrtillus L. leaf contain 12 fatty acids (8 saturated, 2 monounsaturated and 2 polyunsaturated), Rosa majalis L. fruits and Taraxacum officinale L. roots – 13 fatty acids (9 saturated, 2 monounsaturated and 2 polyunsaturated) and Mentha piperita L. herb – 14 fatty acids (10 saturated, 2 monounsaturated and 2 polyunsaturated). The predominant long-chain carboxylic acids in all plant raw materials were unsaturated fatty acids, their content was 55.3% in Urtica dioica L. leaf, 64.7% in Rosa majalis L. fruits, 60.5% in Vaccinium myrtillus L. leaf, 64.3% in Mentha piperita L. herb and 51.7% in Taraxacum officinale L. roots. This indicates the feasibility of including each component in the antidiabetic herbal mixture in order to form anticholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and neuroprotective activity, due to the high content of omega-3, omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids