Bioactivity and phytochemical characterization of Arenaria montana L.

Abstract

The bioactivity (antioxidant and cytotoxic activities) of the aqueous and methanolic extracts of Arenaria montana L., a plant commonly used in Portuguese folk medicine, was evaluated and compared.Furthermore, the phytochemical composition was determined based on hydrophilic (sugars, organic acids and phenolic compounds) and lipophilic (fatty acids and tocopherols) compounds, in order to valorize this plant material as a functional food/nutraceutical. Fructose, oxalic acid, methyl-luteolin 2 00 -O-feruloylhexosyl-C-hexoside, a-tocopherol, and linoleic acid were the main individual compounds found in A. montana. In general, the aqueous extract showed higher antioxidant and cytotoxic activities than the methanolic extract; the latter showed activity only against HeLa and HepG2 cell lines. Both aqueous and methanolic extracts showed some hepatotoxicity but at higher doses than the ones active for tumor cell lines. Moreover, the aqueous extract of A. montana may be used as a functional food or nutraceutical due to the high antioxidant and cytotoxic activities, and due to the presence of bioactive compounds. As far as we know, this is the first report on the phytochemical composition and bioactivity of A. montana.

Artichoke and milk thistle pills and syrups as sources of phenolic compounds with antimicrobial activity

“…The phenolic compounds identified in artichoke formulations obviously showed similarities to the infusions and hydroalcoholic extracts previously analysed by our research group, 5 all the detected compounds being already described Different monocaffeoylquinic and dicaffeoylquinic acids in different parts of artichoke have been widely reported by many authors. [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] The syrup did not contain this type of compound, but showed apigenin and luteolin derivatives, which are also very characteristic of artichoke (with the exception of vanillic acid), with luteolin-7-O-glucoside being the most abundant compound.…”

“…The absence of cynarin in the syrup (Table 3) could be explained by its dependence on the part of the plant used (information not provided on the label), with some studies reporting that artichoke heads have lower contents of cynarin than the leaves or floral stems. 25,32 In contrast to artichoke, both the formulations of milk thistle hardly presented similarities to the infusions and hydroalcoholic extract previously described, 5 with the exception of compounds 1 MT (5-O-caffeolyquinic acid) and 17 MT (3-O-caffeolyquinic acid), that were both identified. 5 In the literature, milk thistle phenolic composition is characterized by the presence of a mixture of flavonolignans (silymarin), which are known to be normally present in its seeds.…”

“…25,32 In contrast to artichoke, both the formulations of milk thistle hardly presented similarities to the infusions and hydroalcoholic extract previously described, 5 with the exception of compounds 1 MT (5-O-caffeolyquinic acid) and 17 MT (3-O-caffeolyquinic acid), that were both identified. 5 In the literature, milk thistle phenolic composition is characterized by the presence of a mixture of flavonolignans (silymarin), which are known to be normally present in its seeds. [33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] [ ) flavonolignans (silymarin), assigned based on their UV spectra (λ max around 286-290 nm), the observation of the ion at m/z 481 and a very characteristic fragmentation pattern observed in many studies.…”

“…2,3 Medicinal plants, with the particular abundance of phytochemicals such as phenolic compounds became an invaluable trump in the line of medicine, among which artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) and milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn) are two herbs with several therapeutic applications and are also described as good sources of flavonoids and phenolic acids. 4,5 In previous studies, extracts from these plants and their isolated phenolic compounds proved to be able to inhibit the growth of several bacterial strains, which led some authors to conclude that their antimicrobial capacity can be attributed to their phenolic composition. For instance, the hydroalcoholic extracts of artichoke leaves showed activity against Escherichia coli and Salmonella abony enterica, 6 and phe-studies have been conducted in order to clarify the differences between the phenolic composition and bioactivity of such formulations, and in this framework, the present study aimed to provide complementary scientific information regarding dietary supplements ( pills and syrups) based on artichoke and milk thistle that previously proved to possess antioxidant and anti-hepatocellular carcinoma activities.…”

Extensive profiling of three varieties of Opuntia spp. fruit for innovative food ingredients

“…Although, the antioxidant properties of betalains could be related to other bioactive molecules. Tocopherols, organic acids, reducing sugars and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) might have a synergistic effect with the aforementioned dyes (Pereira et al, 2014).…”