Fatty acids and its derivatives of Acorus calamus Linn. rhizome induce stem cell-mediated cell division in plants and animals

• DOI: 10.1016/j.bcab.2021.102153
• Publication Date: 2021-09-08T08:30:28Z
• Authors: Chandran Rajesh; Vasanth Raj Palan...; Karuppaiah Palani...
• Keywords: Acorus calamus; Calamus; Aromatic plants

Abstract The phytochemicals from Acorus calamus Linn. medicinal plant rhizome were extracted with distilled water and followed by fractionation with 100% ethanol. Although the original aqueous extract inhibited the blastema development in amputated earthworms, the ethanol fraction partitioned from aqueous extract induced the blastema development. This ethanolic fraction was found to induce the cell division in onion root tips possessing stem cells in the root meristem. GC-MS analysis of ethanol fraction revealed the presence of putative 12 different fatty acids, 7 fatty aldehydes, one fatty alcohol and other hydrocarbon related compounds. Vero cell line was used to examine the cell division potential of ethanol fraction at in vitro conditions. The viability of Vero cells was around 84% even after 3 days with 1 mg/ml concentration of ethanol fraction compared to controls. It indicated that compounds present in the ethanol fraction were nontoxic. We propose that these fatty acids and their derivatives such as fatty aldehydes or fatty alcohol in the ethanol fraction are used as energy resources, in cell membrane biosynthesis or as signal molecules to facilitate the cell division.