Copper Chloride Crystallisation: mistletoe extracts, 7 variables image analysis

Extracts of mistletoe were analysed by means of copper chloride crystallisation.

Mistletoe was grown on three different host trees: Viscum album L. subsp. album on apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) and oak trees (Quercus robur and Quercus petraea) and Viscum album L. subsp. austriacum on pine trees (Pinus sylvestris L.).

The mistletoe extracts were prepared by blending the fermented juices obtained from the fresh material of winter and summer harvests of mistletoe grown on the corresponding host trees. Two different blending procedures were applied to the extracts. In one instance, the juices were combined by hand in a glass container, shaking it vertically 10 times to obtain a homogeneous extract. In the other instance, a machine specifically developed for this purpose at the Hiscia Institute (Society for Cancer Research, Arlesheim, Switzerland) was utilised. Two batches of extracts were analysed. The two batches (2109 and 2204) were consistently analysed in two crystallisation chambers (2109 in H1 and 2204 in H2).

From a watery solution of 150 mg extract and 150 mg CuCl₂ crystallisation fingerprints were obtained after evaporation of the solution under controlled conditions.

Fingerprints were scanned and analysed by computer analysis. Seven variables were extracted from their texture (kappa, diagonal_moment, entropy, cluster_shade) and structure analysis (lend, l220, l250). Verum experiments (6 experimental days, 12 experiments in total) and systematic controls (3 experimental days, 6 experiments in total) are provided. For the systematic control experiments, one extract – a machine-blended extract obtained from mistletoe grown on apple trees of a batch not included in the Verum experiments (batch 2209) – was crystallised both crystallisation chambers.