St. John's Wort Hypericum perforatum L.: Supercritical extraction, antimicrobial and antidepressant activity of extract and some component

Abstract

St. John's Wort, the Hypericum perforatum L. is one of the most analyzed plant species today. Plant was characterized with a wide ecological spectrum and is a plant with beautiful yellow flowers. St. John's Wort was used and still is in used in traditional medicine all over the World. Many bioactive components from St. John's Wort like hypericine, hyperforine, qercetrine and essential oil, were isolated and have been used in medicine. The most popular use of Hipericum extract is as an antidepressant for the medicinal treatment of mild and high depression. The medical use of hyperforine in photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment has now been intensively analyzed. The extract of St. John's Wort showed high antimicrobial, even on pathogenic microorganisms as well as antiviral activity. The use of bioactive components from St. John's Wort depends on the possibility to isolate them in the pure state. It seems that supercritical extraction with carbon dioxide might to be the best solution for obtaining pure extract as well as some of the components present in the essential oil and extract of St. John's Wort. Such a conclusion is supported by the many results of recently performed and published in scientific journals.

Kantarion (Hypericum perforatum L.) jedna je od najviše ispitivanih biljnih vrsta. Odlikuje se širokom ekološkom amplitudom i veoma lepom stabljikom sa žutim cvetovima. Kantarion se koristio i koristi u tradicionalnoj medicini širom sveta, a danas kada su izolovane njegove bioaktivne komponente kao što su hipericin, hiperforin, kvercitrin ali i samo etarsko ulje, počeo je da se koristi i u medicini. Najpoznatija je svakako primena ekstrakta kantariona kao antidepresivnog sredstva kod lečenja svih vrsta depresija i uznemirenosti. Primena bioaktivnih komponenti kantariona u medicini kao sredstva za lečenje raka je u razvoju posebno fotodinamička metoda ali se primenjuje kod lečenja raka kože. Ispitana je antimikrobna aktivnost ekstrakta kantariona i njegovih bioaktivnih komponenti i dobijeni su značajni rezultati i na patogene mikroorganizme. Izolovanje bioaktivnih komponenti etarskog ulja ili ekstrakta kantariona koje se mogu upotrebiti u medicinske svrhe moguće je primenom natkritične ekstrakcije tako da su mnoga istraživanja objavljena u literaturi usmerena ka utvrđivanju najboljih uslova ekstrakcije.