Pfeiffera ianthothele

Name, stems and flowers

POWO accepts Pfeiffera ianthothele (Monv. ex Salm-Dyck) F.A.C.Weber. Lepismium ianthothele, Pfeiffera cereiformis, P. erecta and P. mataralensis belong to its synonymy. The 2010 key identifies this species through ribbed stems, conspicuous spines, white flowers and bristles or spines on the outer tissues of the flower and fruit. [2-WWW] [Korotkova et al. 2010, POWO record 191465-2, 12 October 2026, pp. 161, 165]

In the plastid analysis, P. ianthothele belonged to the same principal group as P. monacantha and P. miyagawae. Distinctly ribbed stems and armed fruits linked it morphologically with P. miyagawae. It is the type species of the genus whose name was retained after the Lymanbensonia lineage was separated. [Korotkova et al. 2010, pp. 158–161, 164–165]

Fruits from the Yungas forests

Zampini and colleagues collected ripe fruits in February 2010 in Sierra San Javier Park, Tucumán province, at an elevation of 1135 m. They described the species as an epiphyte of the subtropical montane Yungas forests. The fruits were almost spherical and light pink to white, with reported dimensions of 13.0 mm in length and 13.9 mm in diameter. Of the four species examined, only the fruits of P. ianthothele were armed. [Zampini et al. 2011, p. 2346, section 2.1]

Findings from chemical analyses

Seed-free pulp was used for extraction. An aqueous extract, an ethanolic extract and the residue extracted in water for 10 minutes at 100°C were compared. Folin–Ciocalteu results for P. ianthothele were 6.5 ± 1.5, 4.0 ± 1.3 and 5.2 ± 2.0 mg gallic acid equivalents per 100 g fresh mass, respectively. This assay measures reducing capacity and is also influenced by other constituents, including sugars. Sampling and analyses were performed in triplicate. [Zampini et al. 2011, pp. 2346–2348, sections 2.2, 2.4, 2.10 and Table 1]

Pigments assayed as betalains were not detected in the P. ianthothele preparations. They were detected in the two Lepismium species examined in parallel. The pale fruit colour and this assay result therefore describe the particular material studied. They do not establish the chemical composition of every part of the plant. [Zampini et al. 2011, pp. 2348–2349, Table 1, section 3.2]

Antioxidant activity in laboratory models

In the ABTS assay, concentrations required to reduce the radical signal by half were 4.50 ± 0.41 for the aqueous extract, 4.10 ± 0.35 for the heated preparation and 3.20 ± 0.25 µg gallic acid equivalents/ml for the ethanolic extract. The unit refers to the chemical assay result rather than the total mass of the extract. The ethanolic extract also showed greater activity than the aqueous extract in the β-carotene–linoleic acid oxidation model. These comparisons describe chemical reactions of the preparations within the assay systems. [Zampini et al. 2011, pp. 2347, 2349, Table 2 and Fig. 4]

Mutagenicity and the scope of the results

Aqueous extracts were tested in Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100, with and without S9 metabolic activation. At 1, 10 and 50 µg gallic acid equivalents per plate, the response did not meet the prespecified mutagenicity criterion. In a separate comparison involving 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine, the effect of the P. ianthothele extract was weak. The authors classified inhibition below 25% as weak and insufficient for a positive assessment of antimutagenic activity. [Zampini et al. 2011, pp. 2347–2350, sections 2.8–2.9 and 3.4, Tables 3–4]

The experiments covered pulp composition, two antioxidant models and a bacterial mutation assay. They establish properties of the extracts and their behaviour under laboratory conditions. Effects in animals or humans require separate studies, as does assessment of a preparation for use as a food or medicinal product. [Zampini et al. 2011, p. 2350, conclusions]

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