| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
|
|---|
| Research Abstract |
Although much attention has been paid on the leaf movement of Mimosa pudica with irritation and the mechanism for the rapid conduction of stimulus is still controversial in the plant, we found that M. pudica L. was very sensitive to the administration of extraneous substances and such stimulation afforded electrophysiological responses. Actually, during observation of resting potential strong pulses were recorded by an administration of methanol extract of some leguminous plants. We then searched for the substance responsible for the activity in Albizzia julibrissin and Leucaena glauca. In the previous study, from A. Julibrissin, two compounds were isolated as active principles, one of which (active compound 1) was identified as 5-hydroxypipecolic acid. ィイD113ィエD1C- and ィイD11ィエD1H-NMR, FT-IR, UV and mass spectrometric analyses demonstrated that the active compound 2 had a molecular formula (CィイD228ィエD2HィイD250ィエD2NィイD22ィエD2OィイD23ィエD2) and functional groups such as methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, conjugated ketone and methyl ketone in the molecule. However, due to the unstability of active compound 2, the chemical structure still remains to be determined. On the other hand, from the methanol extract of leaves of L. glauca., active compound 3 was isolated and its structure and activity was investigated. These studies provide the suggestion that measuring the electrical pulses produced by M. pudica could be utilized as a method for screening biologically important compounds in plant kingdom.
|
