Bączek K., Przybył J. L., Węglarz Z.

Eleutherococcus senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Maxim. is a thorny shrub, belonging to the Araliaceae family, occurring primarily in Russia, China, Korea and Japan. In traditional medicine underground parts of this plant are used as a drug with adaptogenic activity. Eleutherosides are the most important biologically active compounds responsible for this action. The content of eleutherosides and polyphenolic acids in rhizomes, roots and stem bark was determined to assess the chemical varibility between ten selected E. senticosus clones. HPLC analyses showed significant differences between clones in the content of eleutherosides B and E. The highest content of these compounds was observed in the stem bark (from 207.2 to 566.0 mg 100 g-1), lower in the rhizomes (from 47.5 to 326.2 mg 100 g-1) and the lowest in roots (from 38.9 to 228.6 mg 100 g-1). In all three investigated plant organs presence of chlorogenic, caffeic, rosmarinic, ferulic, protocatechuic acids and rutoside was determined as well.

Key words: Eleutherococcus, eleutherosides, polyphenolic acids, rutoside