Effects of extraction solvent/technique on the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of spring saffron (Crocus vernus (L.) Hill)

Abstract

Spring saffron (lat. Crocus vernus (L.)Hill) is a perennial from the Iridaceae family. Purple or white coloured flowers bloom in the early spring. Saffron is commonly used in cookery, but because of its healing properties, crocus is also used in medicine for improving blood circulation, treating the cardiovascular diseases, preventing tumour and healing skin diseases. This research aimed to determine the influence of solvents (water, ethanol and acetone) on antioxidative, antimicrobial activity and the content of biologically important compounds, such as phenols and flavonoids in saffron. FRAP and DPPH methods were used to examine antioxidative activity. Antibacterial activity was analysed by using diffusion technique on bacterial strains of Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Listeria monocytogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Antifungal activity was examined on Candida albicans. The results showed that the ethanol extracts have the highest antioxidant activity and the aqueous extracts have the lowest one. None of the tested extracts showed antibacterial activity, but aqueous extracts and ethanolic extract of saffron, obtained by maceration, showed antifungal activity.

Potential Nutraceutical Benefits of In Vivo Grown Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) As Analgesic, Anti-inflammatory, Anticoagulant, and Antidepressant in Mice

“…Saffron tea has been reputed to be a potential complementary treatment for psoriasis in medical nutrition therapy [13]. Many pharmacological studies have shown that this plant and its phytochemicals have emerged as nutraceutical elements, endowed with beneficial effects on health showing antibacterial [14], antioxidant, cytotoxic [15,16], antifungal [17], immunomodulatory [18,19], anti-mutagenic [20], aphrodisiac [21], antitussives [22,23], and antiplatelet effects [24]. Traditional and modern biomedical reports have also proved saffron to cure coronary artery diseases [25], respiratory diseases [26], menstrual disorders [27,28], and neurodegenerative disorders [29].…”

Extraction of phenolic and flavonoid compounds and evaluation of their antioxidant activity in saffron anthers (Crocus sativus L.)

“…Antioxidant activity of ascorbic acid was similar when methanol and distilled water were used as solvents without a significant difference (2-way ANOVA) (Table 2), therefore, among the three solvents and the two bioactive compounds, flavonoids ethanol-extracted proved to be the strongest antioxidant source. Horozić et al (2019) found that ethanol displayed the strongest antioxidant capacity in spring saffron and water the weakest one, while Karimi et al (2010) found that the free radical scavenging (68.2%) and ferric reducing power activities (78.9%) of saffron stigmas were higher in the methanolic extract in relation to those of boiling water and ethanol. The weakest antioxidant capacity of ascorbic acid or vitamin C herein could be ascribed either to its pro-oxidant activity (Kosar et al, 2011) or to the fact that is soluble in water, thus some of its amounts were depleted and the available remaining quantity left was not enough for the process of reducing fatty acid oxidation, leading to bleaching of β-carotene (Hossein Goli et al, 2012).…”

Metal complexes as potential agents for neutralizing free radicals: a review of in vitro studies

“…Studies conducted in the past two years on complexes of selected d-block metals and Schiff bases derived from ninhydrin and amino acids have shown significant reduction potential and a high degree of neutralization of DPPH radicals in in vitro studies [18][19][20][21]. Figure 2 shows the general structure of metal complexes with Schiff bases derived from selected amino acids and ninhydrins, where R is the amino acid residue (phenylalanine, glycine, tryptophan, methionine, histidine, cysteine) and M is the selected metals (copper, cobalt, iron, nickel, silver).…”