Evaluation of taxol content of hazelnut leaf in the north-west of Iran

Taxol is one of the most effective anti-cancer drug available in the market. The increasing demand of this compound due to its use in treating a wide range of cancers, as well as its high cost have been triggered efforts to find alternative resources to get this drug. Hazel (Corylus avellana), which is already cultivated for nutritional aspects, is now attracting attention for its phytochemical content. Notably, the discovery of taxol and related taxanes in this plant species prompted extensive interest to explore the production of these compounds in C. avellana. In this research, leaf samples from different populations collected from the Fandoglo forest (Ardabil province), Meshginshahr (Ardabil province) and Tarom gardens (Zanjan province). In these three regions, 18 genotypes were evaluated. Extraction of Taxol was done using the Bestoso et al. (2006) method and Taxol content was measured by HPLC. The results indicated that there are significant differences between genotypes in terms of taxol content. So, the amount of taxol was varied from 3.82 ppm in the genotype 9 (Meshginshahr) to 0.33 ppm in genotype 14 (Ardabil). In addition, comparing the genotypes collected from three different regions showed that the mean taxol content of Meshginshahr, Ardabil and Zanjan provinces were 2.17, 1.36 and 1.16, respectively.

کلیدواژه ها:

Corylus avellana ، Genetic variability ، Taxol