Amino-and fatty-acid composition of Kazakhstan Haloxylon species

The genus Haloxylon (Chenopodiaceae) is represented by 10 species in semi-deserts and deserts of Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, Northwest China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. Three species are indigenous to the flora of Kazakhstan: H. aphyllum Bge., H. persicum Bge., and H. ammodendron Bge. [1]. The aerial part of Haloxylon is used in folk medicine externally for scorpion and snake bites. The ash is used as a wound-healing agent for internal gastrointestinal-tract ulcers [2]. The aerial part of the studied Haloxylon species contains 18 aminoand 8 fatty-acids with different quantitative contents in each species (Tables 1 and 2). The composition of the bound amino acids was established using an AAA-881 (Czech Rep.) amino-acid analyzer. Samples were hydrolyzed in HCl (5.7 N) for 24 h in sealed ampuls at 110°C [3]. The aerial part of H. aphyllum had the highest amino-acid content. Glutamic and aspartic acids dominated in all species. The amino-acid content, including essential ones (30.06%, 29.91, 30.22 of total amino acids), was about the same in all Haloxylon species. Fatty acids were analyzed as methyl esters in a Chrom-42 chromatograph (Czech Rep.) using Cellite 545 adsorbent on WAW chromosorb, He carrier gas, flame-ionization detector, carrier gas flow rate 30 mL/min, detector temperature 188°C, and furnace temperature 230°C. Acids were methylated by NaOMe at 60–70°C [4]. Unsaturated fatty acids (oleic and linoleic) and saturated palmitic acid dominated the composition of all studied species. Based on the results, the quantitative compositions of fatty acids of all studied Haloxylon species are similar. The content of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (of total fatty acids) differs only by several units between the Haloxylon species.