Factors affecting the content of pentacyclic triterpenes in Centella asiatica raw materials

Figures & data

Figure 1.  Chemical structures of four pentacyclic triterpenes from C. asiatica.

Table 1.  Pentacyclic triterpene content of Centella asiatica extracts obtained from various plant parts.

Plant parts	Pentacyclic triterpene content (mg/g dry powder)
	1	2	3	4	Total
Leaves	2.2 ± 0.02	3.1 ± 0.09	5.6 ± 0.40	8.6 ± 0.44	19.5 ± 0.90
Flowers	ND	0.4 ± 0.03*	4.7 ± 0.02*	5.7 ± 0.21*	10.8 ± 0.25*
Fruits	0.8 ± 0.06*	0.6 ± 0.00*	4.2 ± 0.05*	4.2 ± 0.02*	9.8 ± 0.10*
Stolons	ND	ND	2.1 ± 0.17*	1.8 ± 0.09*	3.9 ± 0.26*
Nodes with roots	0.8 ± 0.04*	0.5 ± 0.04*	0.6 ± 0.03*	0.6 ± 0.08*	2.5 ± 0.16*
Petioles	0.4 ± 0.02*	0.4 ± 0.04*	0.9 ± 0.05*	0.8 ± 0.04*	2.5 ± 0.08*

ND, not detected; 1, asiatic acid; 2 madecassic acid; 3 asiaticoside; and 4 madecassoside.

*Significant difference (p < 0.05) when compared with the content in the leaves.

Table 2.  Total pentacyclic triterpene content of Centella asiatica extracts obtained from different places for cultivation and harvesting periods.

Harvesting periods	Total pentacyclic triterpene content (mg/g dry powder)
	Trang	Songkhla	Phatthalung	Nakornsrithammarat	Ratchaburi
March	37.2 ± 0.48a	17.8 ± 0.72e	32.9 ± 1.38b	7.9 ± 0.26g	6.5 ± 0.10gh
July	11.9 ± 0.33f	23.2 ± 0.07d	24.0 ± 0.88d	6.8 ± 0.09gh	6.9 ± 0.17gh
December	24.3 ± 0.60d	37.4 ± 0.27a	31.0 ± 0.35c	6.1 ± 0.23h	7.1 ± 0.08gh

Means followed by the same letter are not significantly different according to Tukey’s test.

Significantly different (p < 0.05) when compared to means.

Figure 2.  HPLC chromatograms of C. asiatica extracts obtained from different places for cultivation: (A) Trang; (B) Songkhla; (C) Phattalung; (D) Nakornsrithammarat; (E) Ratchaburi; (1) Asiatic acid; (2) Madecassic acid; (3) Asiaticoside; (4) Madecassoside.

Table 3.  Content of four pentacyclic triterpene in Centella asiatica extracts obtained from different places for cultivation and harvesting periods.

Places of cultivation and harvesting periods	Pentacyclic triterpene content (mg/g dry powder)
	1	2	3	4
March
Trang	0.4 ± 0.01	0.3 ± 0.06	9.9 ± 0.18	26.6 ± 0.60
Songkhla	1.3 ± 0.06	2.0 ± 0.25	5.8 ± 0.22	8.7 ± 0.34
Phatthalung	1.0 ± 0.04	1.5 ± 0.17	11.4 ± 0.50	19.0 ± 0.74
Nakornsrithammarat	2.0 ± 0.06	2.4 ± 0.03	1.6 ± 0.19	1.9 ± 0.15
Ratchaburi	1.4 ± 0.10	2.4 ± 0.12	1.2 ± 0.07	1.6 ± 0.04
July
Trang	0.5 ± 0.02	0.7 ± 0.04	4.1 ± 0.14	6.5 ± 0.22
Songkhla	0.7 ± 0.02	1.1 ± 0.08	8.7 ± 0.18	12.6 ± 0.21
Phatthalung	0.8 ± 0.04	0.9 ± 0.02	8.3 ± 0.33	14.0 ± 0.52
Nakornsrithammarat	0.5 ± 0.02	0.6 ± 0.04	2.6 ± 0.05	3.2 ± 0.05
Ratchaburi	0.9 ± 0.04	1.6 ± 0.04	1.7 ± 0.06	2.7 ± 0.06
December
Trang	0.9 ± 0.09	1.4 ± 0.05	8.7 ± 0.29	13.3 ± 0.31
Songkhla	2.4 ± 0.04	3.1 ± 0.10	13.9 ± 0.33	18.0 ± 0.12
Phatthalung	0.7 ± 0.05	0.9 ± 0.06	12.8 ± 0.14	16.6 ± 0.24
Nakornsrithammarat	2.1 ± 0.08	3.1 ± 0.10	0.4 ± 0.04	0.5 ± 0.03
Ratchaburi	2.2 ± 0.07	3.1 ± 0.05	0.9 ± 0.02	0.9 ± 0.07

1, asiatic acid; 2 madecassic acid; 3 asiaticoside; and 4 madecassoside.