Increasing the concentration of rutin and quercetin anti-cancer flavonoids in Capparis spinosa affected by some ecological factors

Plant flavonoids show positive responses to geographical changes, especially altitude, and considering that the medicinal plant of capper (Capparis spinosa) is ecologically distributed in different habitats, so in this research the effect of altitude on the content of anti-cancer flavonoids such as rutin and quercetin were studied in capper which sampled in summer from three mountainous areas of Amol (Nemarestaq, Delarestaq and Behrestaq) at four altitudes with difference heights of 150 meters from each other (minimum 850 and maximum 1650 meters) and with three replications in a completely randomized design. Total flavonoids, rutin and quercetin were measured and analyzed by spectrophotometry and HPLC. The results showed a significant difference between measured traits in different regions (p≤0.01 and p≤0.05), so that the highest amount of flavonoids, rutin and quercetin were obtained at an altitude of 1650 m in the third region (Behrestaq) with 4.51±17 μmol, 24.62±0.28 and 4.91±0.18 mg/g fresh weight, respectively. Therefore, zone and altitude had a positive effect on the amount of medicinal metabolites of capper. Also, the equation of regression lines and explanatory coefficients (r² = 0.91, r² = 0.74 and r² = 0.78) showed that the amount of flavonoids, rutin and quercetin at different altitudes in Nemarestaq, Delarestaq and Behrestaq increased with increasing altitude and the slope of the regression line for all traits was positive. Therefore, nature is the best model for obtaining more concentrated and desirable anti-cancer flavonoids in plants.