Research of enzymatic activities of fresh juice and water infusions from dry herbs

Research was done on the presence of enzymes in juice obtained from fresh plant material from Chamomilla recutita L. (Rauschel)-anthodium, Lamium album L.-flos, Calendula officinalis L.-flos, Plantaginis lanceolata L.-folium and Euphrasiae rostkoviana Hayne-herba, and in the prepared water infusion of these materials; the objective was to determine the activity of enzymes which beside biologically active substances may have an influence of the final therapeutic effect of the applied plant preparations. The research was conducted by means of the API ZYM system (bioMèrieux). Higher enzymatic activities were found in fresh juices of the examined plant material than in prepared water infusions from dried plants. In both cases naphthol-AS-BI-phosphohydrolase should have highest activity. The second one in terms of activity out of 17 studied enzymes was acidic phosphatase. The highest enzymatic activity of fresh juice was found in Lamii albi flos and Calendulae officinalis flos. Water infusions showed the highest enzymatic activity in Lamii albi flos, Chamomille recutita anthodium and Plantaginis lanceolata folium. Drying the plant material resulted in decreased enzymatic activities but not in the case of naphthol-AS-BI-phosphohydrolase and acidic phosphatase which showed very low activities. The complex composition of plant materials in terms of content of biologically active substances may imply that the therapeutic effect might be directly related to the quantity and activity of plant enzymes present in preparations applied in therapeutics.