Polyphenolic-polysaccharide compounds from selected medicinal plants of Asteraceae and Rosaceae families: Chemical characterization and blood anticoagulant activity

The preparations from selected traditional medicinal plants in Poland (Asteraceae and Rosaceae families), were prepared in the multi-step process of isolation and their anticoagulant activity was measured by APTT and PT tests. The most promising effect was observed for the substances extracted from Fragaria vesca (Rosaceae) and Echinacea purpurea (Asteraceae). They showed interesting activity with respect to the activity of 5th International Standard for Unfractionated Heparin in APTT method. The structure characterization by IR, HPLC, GLC-MS and colorimetric methods revealed that these preparations are macromolecular polysaccharide–polyphenolic conjugates, similar to cell wall acidic macromolecular fragments which are common in the higher plants. The high content of hexuronic acids, as well as phenolic glycoconjugates seems to be responsible for the observed anticoagulant activity.