Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activity ofOpuntia Ficus-Indica F. Inermis(Cactus Pear) Flowers

Abstract

Opuntia ficus-indica f. inermis (cactus pear) flowers have wide application in folk medicine. However, there are few reports focusing on their biological activity and were no reports on their chemical composition. The nutrient composition and hexane extracts of Opuntia flowers at 4 flowering stages and their antibacterial and antifungal activities were investigated. The chemical composition showed considerable amounts of fiber, protein, and minerals. Potassium (K) was the predominant mineral followed by calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). The main compounds in the various hexane extracts were 9.12-octadecadienoic acid (29-44%) and hexadecanoic acid (8.6-32%). The antibacterial activity tests showed that O. inermis hexane extracts have high effectiveness against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, making this botanical source a potential contender as a food preservative or food control additive.

Seed oil extraction from red prickly pear using hexane and supercritical CO2: assessment of phenolic compound composition, antioxidant and antibacterial activities

“…The diameters of the inhibition zones (Table ) were between 9.8 ± 1.0 and 12.9 ± 1.5 mm when using 20 µg phenolics. These results concur with a previous work demonstrating the antibacterial effect of O. stricta extracts, and other works performed with O. ficus indica extracts showing potent antibacterial activities …”

Antimicrobial activity of selected plants against fungal species isolated from South African AIDS patients and their antigonococcal activity

“…In a previous study [60], the hexane extract from the flower from O. ficus-indica demonstrated antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. However, the flower extract did not inhibit the growth of a rare human pathogenic fungus Candida lipolytica [55,60]. Antifungal activity of cladode and leaf extracts of O. ficus-indica and R. communis were reported against C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei and C. neoformans.…”

“…Both microdilution and hole agar plate bioassays were used for antifungal activity of 28 plant extracts. Except in the case of S. didymobotrya, O. ficus-indica and R. communis where several Candida species were tested for sensitivity [46,51], various studies [39,[52][53][54][55] demonstrated activity of selected plant species against Candida albicans. A possible explanation is that C. albicans account for nearly 80% of isolates for fungal species in immunocompromised patients [6].…”

Phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of Tunisian cactus pear (Opuntia ficus indica L.) flower

“…The flower essential oil composition from Italian cactus pear has been reported by De Leo et al (2010). In Tunisia, Ennouri et al (2014) only determined the hexane volatile fraction of O.…”

“…However, pentadecane (4%), allo-aromadendrene (3.9%), nonanal (2.5%), and hexadecane (1.6%) had low levels like our study. It is noteworthy that DeLeo et al (2010) had used headspace solid phase microextraction to extract volatiles emitted in vivo from cactus pear flower Ennouri et al (2014). reported that volatile fraction of Tunisian O. ficus indica f. inermis flower, obtained by hexane solvent extraction, was rich in carboxylic acids (81.4%) and camphor (9.11%).…”