Biological activities of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha L. collected at Da Lat, Lam Dong province

Abstract

Marchantia polymorpha L. is used as a folk medicine in India, China and some European countries for the treatment of inflammation, cure cuts, wounds, diuretics, etc. Natural compounds and biological activities of this liverwort have been studied in the world for few years. At present time, the studies on bryophytes (non-vascular plants) are quite limited, especially in Vietnam. Therefore, this research focused on investigating some biological activities and analyzing of major secondary metabolites of M. polymorpha L. collected at Da Lat, Lam Dong. Among four extracted fractions (nhexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and ethanol), the chloroform extract exhibited the best antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-proliferation of MCF-7 cell line activities. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited better activity of tyrosinase and α-glucosidase inhibition than others. Main secondary compounds in this species were phenolics, steroids and glycosidederivatives. These results were scientific evidences that might help us to understand rigorously about the ultilization of Marchantia liverwort in the traditional treatment and new potential applications in the contemporary medicine.