Abstract

Aristotelia chilensis (Molina) Stuntz is a shrub which grows wild in central to southern Chile and western Argentina. Apart from its traditional medicinal use in Chilean folk medicine, it is also known for producing tasty antioxidant berries, locally called “Maqui”. The exploitation of the wild resources has grown extensively. Selection, domestication and cultivation studies on an agroindustrial scale are ongoing in Chile in order to provide industry with sustainably produced Maqui berries with standardized quality characteristics. HPTLC was chosen for the assessment of phytochemical and antioxidant variations in Maqui berry samples of different genotypes, field cultivation conditions and ripening stages at harvest time. The sample preparation method described in [1] was modified for small sample amounts using mechanically assisted extraction with ceramic beads. A suitable HPTLC method was developed using derivatization with Fast Blue Salt and Natural Product reagents for phytochemicals and DPPH for radical scavenging activity profiles. In addition, a high throughput ORAC assay was used for comparison of antioxidant activity in the samples. The results suggest that differences in ripening stages and cultivation conditions lead to variations in phytochemical and radical scavenging profiles on HPTLC plates supported by antioxidant ORAC data. The study is an example of how HPTLC can be a powerful, rapid and cost-effective tool in both quality control and the support of agronomic research on valuable medicinal and neutraceutical plants.