Innovative use of intact seeds of Mucuna monosperma Wight for improved yield of L-DOPA

The drug L-DOPA has been widely used against Parkinson’s disease and is extracted from plants. Due to the increasing demand of this drug, new plant sources need to be discovered in addition to the existing sources. The paper embodies results on Mucuna monosperma, which can be a promising candidate for L-DOPA. The seed powder of this plant contains 5.48% of (dry weight) the drug and when the seeds were soaked in distilled water, content was increased to 6.58%. Different elicitors when added, enhanced the drug level in seed up to 11.8%. The possible rationale behind this increase was confirmed by increase in tyrosinase activity in the seeds. Presence of L-DOPA was confirmed using various analytical techniques as HPLC, HPTLC and NMR. The work demonstrates a potential candidate plant as a source for L-DOPA when a novel method was adopted as described here. [Image: see text] ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s13659-011-0051-3 and is accessible for authorized users.