Investigation of the Changes in the Amount of the Secondary Essential of Hypericin in Hypericum perforatum L. in Different Highlands of Golestan National Park, Iran

In the present study, the Tangrah region located in the vicinity of Golestan National Park was selected for exploring the changes in the amount of the secondary essential of hypericin in Hypericum perforatum in different highlands of the eastern Golestan province. The aerial flowered parts of the herb were collected randomly and in three replications from four altitudes of 300 m, 600 m, 900 m, and 1200 m in June (5-12) 2011, and dried in the open air, with their methanol essential being extracted using cold maceration method. The HPLC method was also used to determine the amount of hypericin samples. The variances of the obtained data were analyzed in F-test by using the SPSS software package. In addition, the means were compared by means of LSD. The results revealed that the amount of hypericin extracted at the altitudes of 300 m, 600 m, 900 m, and 1200 m were 1.903 mg/g, 1.393 mg/g, 1.710 mg/g, and 2.107 m g/g, respectively, so that the altitude of 1200 m recorded the greatest amount (2.107 mg/g) while the altitude of 600 m represented the smallest amount (1.393 mg/g). The statistical analyses showed that there is a significant difference between the altitude of 600 m and the altitudes of 300 m and 1200 m in the amount of observed hypericin (p>0.1), whereas no significant difference was observed between the altitude of 300 m and that of 1200 m. Moreover, there was no correlation between soil characteristics percentage despite the increase in the hypericin at different highlands.