Screening of the seeds of Mucuna pruriens germplasm for L-dopa, an anti-parkinsonian agent

Mucuna pruriens Linn. seeds constitute an excellent raw material for indigenous Ayurvedic drugs and medicines due to the presence of 3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine (L-dopa), which provides symptomatic relief in Parkinson's disease. L-dopa extracted from seeds of Mucuna is more effective as drug than the synthetic counterpart. Mucuna germplasm collected from wild regions of Odisha were chemically evaluated for bioactive compound L-dopa by high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) at 280 nm. Results showed that L-dopa content in seeds varied significantly among different accessions and ranged from 4.20% to 6.11% on dry weight basis. Accessions IC589220 and IC589208 were found to contain high L-dopa content of 6.11 and 6.04%, respectively. These promising accessions of M. pruriens can be exploited for large-scale cultivation of the crop for their pharmacological important constituents mainly L-dopa content.