Abstract:
The purpose of our work has focused on the study of Teucrium polium L. Capitatum, which is
a widespread medicinal plant in algerian steppes. Several study topics were investigated such
as the morphology, physio-biochemical constituents and biological effects.
The morphological analysis consisted of ten populations sampled at different habitats in
eastern Algeria. This study revealed that the leaves have the lowest number (five out of ten)
of types of trichomes, followed by the calyx and corolla with eight types for each. This
confirms the absence of intraspecific variability within the study populations. Furthermore,
the analysis of relationships between morphological characteristics and environmental factors
of their habitat showed that the latter influences the length of trichomes.
The use of one-dimensional electrophoresis technique on polyacrylamide gel in the presence
of detergent (SDS-PAGE) allowed to determine the total protein profiles of the ten study
populations. The similarity coefficients of polypeptide bands indicated high similarity
between populations.
Biochemical analyzes of the three phenotypes of T. polium L. Capitatum showed that extracts
of purple phenotypes were richest in anthocyanins, soluble sugars and carotenoids compared
with pink and white phenotypes enlightening there by the importance of flower color.
The combination of certain chemical analysis methods, spectrophotometry (UV-visible) and
chromatographic (HPLC) have identified three flavonoids including mostly the cyanidin and
two other flavonoids, quercetin and caffeic acid.
The evaluation of the antioxidant potency, that was conducted using the method of trapping
the free radical DPPH and that of iron reduction FRAP, revealed that the extract of Biskra
population showed higher reducing capacity compared to that of Sétif, with a strong trapping
of DPPH● radicals.
As regards to the antibacterial activity, it appears that extracts from two populations have
acceptable antibacterial properties.
The pharmacological effect of T. polium L. Capitatum showed an interesting diuretic
property.
