Safety Assessment and Botanical Standardization of an Edible Species from South America

Abstract

Tropaeolum majus L. (Tropaeolaceae), commonly known as nasturtium, is an important edible plant native to the Andean States and widely disseminated throughout South America. Despite the use of this species is quite widespread, there are no minimum quality control standards or data on its genotoxicity. So, the aim of this study was to present a detailed anatomical and histochemical study for Tropaeolum majus and provide genotoxicity parameters of a preparation routinely used in South American countries. First, three different Tropaeolum majus aqueous extracts (TMAEs) at concentrations of 1.5%, 7%, and 15% were prepared according to the popular use. Then, genetic toxicity of TMAE was evaluated on bacterial reverse mutation, genomic lesions, and micronucleus formation in male rats. Furthermore, a detailed anatomical and histochemical study of the leaves and stems of Tropaeolum majus were performed. No revertant colonies were found in any bacterial cultures examined. In the comet assay, TMAE showed no significant DNA damage in all tested doses. Micronucleus assay showed no significant increases in the frequency of inducing micronuclei in any dose examined. Light and electron microscope images of cross-section of leaves and stems from Tropaeolum majus revealed useful diagnostic features. The presented data showed significant safety parameters for the use of TMAE and provided important data for the quality control of this plant species.

Light and Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, and Histochemistry ofEucalyptus tereticornis

“…The presence of crystals in plants is common and may be formed in any organ or tissue. They usually occur in the stems (Brustulim et al, 2020) and leaves (Klider et al, 2020) and can be deposited in different tissues and locations, such as within epidermal cells (Traesel et al, 2017), externally to the epidermis (Almeida et al, 2020), in the mesophyll (Tirloni et al, 2018), and in the cortex and pith (D'Almeida et al, 2021) of the stem. They present a great variety of morphologies, such as prisms of different shapes, druses, styloid, and crystal sand, and are useful in the species identification.…”

Evaluation of Drought Responses in Two Tropaeolum Species Used in Landscaping through Morphological and Biochemical Markers

“…Due to its large and brightly coloured flowers, it was introduced and became popular as a garden species or used in landscaping in North and Central America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Oceanic Islands [50]. It is also used as an edible and medicinal plant [51][52][53] and is effective as an aphid trap in vegetable gardens [54]. The species often eludes cultivation through garden debris and is reported as invasive from different regions, such as the Canary Islands, Malta, Hawaii and California.…”

Tropaeolum majus R2R3 MYB Transcription Factor TmPAP2 Functions as a Positive Regulator of Anthocyanin Biosynthesis

“…Nasturtium ( Tropaeolum majus ) is an annual bushy flowering plant from the order of Brassicales, in the Tropaeolaceae family; it is native to the Andes and is widely disseminated throughout South America [ 1 , 2 ]. Nasturtium is one of the most popular edible plants, with all parts being edible, including the leaves, flowers, and unripe green seeds; it offers many health benefits as it contains a large amount of vitamin C and lutein [ 3 , 4 ].…”

“…Due to its medicinal importance, nasturtium was named the medicinal plant of the year in 2013 ( , accessed on 1 September 2020). In addition, a few available toxicological studies have demonstrated that there is no acute toxicity or genotoxicity in nasturtium plant extracts [ 2 , 11 ].…”