Phytochemical analysis and antioxidant activity of Lycium barbarum (Goji) cultivated in Greece

Abstract

Context: The fruit of Lycium barbarum L. (Solanaceae), known as goji berry, has been exploited for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine. In recent decades, it has received much attention as one of the trendiest functional foods with a wide array of pharmacological activities in Western diets.Objective: In this study the phenolic profile and potential antioxidant capacity of Lycium barbarum cultivated in Crete (Greece) were investigated.Materials and methods: The berries were defatted with hexane and then extracted with dichloromethane and methanol using a Soxhlet apparatus. Furthermore, the methanol extract was fractionated with ethyl acetate and butanol. All fractions/extracts were tested for their antioxidant activity (DPPH, FRAP, chemiluminescence). Folin–Ciocalteu and LC-DAD-MS analyses were utilized for the identification of the phenolic compounds.Results: The total phenolic content ranged from 14.13 ± 0.40 (water fraction) to 109.72 ± 4.09 (ethyl acetate fraction) mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry extract. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited the highest scavenging activities determined as EC50 (4.73 ± 0.20 mg/mL) and IC50 (0.47 ± 0.001 mg/mL) using DPPH and chemiluminescence assays. Seventeen phenolic compounds, including cinnamoylquinic acids and derivatives, hydrocinnamic acids and flavonoid derivatives, were tentatively identified. To the best of our knowledge, quercetin 3-O-hexose coumaric ester and quercetin 3-O-hexose-O-hexose-O-rhamnose are reported for the first time in goji berry fruits.Discussion and conclusion: The results of this study suggest that consumption of goji berry fruits could serve as a potential source of natural antioxidant compounds and that goji berry phenolic extracts could be exploited for nutritional pharmaceutical purposes.

Phenolic content and biological activities of <i>Lycium barbarum L </i>(Solanaceae) fruits (Goji berries) cultivated in Konya, Turkey

“…The results of the present study show that the methanol extract has a higher phenol and flavonoid content than the water extract, and so has a higher radical scavenging activity. These results concur with the previous observation identifying the strong free radical scavenging activity of L. barbarum extracts [21,22]. However, due to differences in the experimental procedures between the studies in the use of a DPPH assay, inconsistent results were observed.…”

“…The phenolic content values obtained in this study were lower than in the studies reported by Benchennouf et al and Vulić et al [21,22]. These inconsistencies may stem from differences in extraction procedure, although in general, polyphenol extraction from plant material is influenced mainly by solvent polarity [23].…”

“…C FRAP values for the extracts at 40 mg/mL, for quercetin at 0.125 mg/mL and for αtocopherol at 1 mg/mL concentration [22]. When the findings of the present study were compared with these studies, it was revealed that the chemical composition of L. barbarum differs according to soil content, climatic conditions and cultivation zone.…”

“…These inconsistencies may stem from differences in extraction procedure, although in general, polyphenol extraction from plant material is influenced mainly by solvent polarity [23]. It has been reported that ethyl acetate is the best solvent for the extraction of phenolics from L. barbarum fruits [22].…”

Impact of Aqueous/Ethanolic Goji Berry (Lycium barbarum) Fruit Extract Supplementation on Vitamin D Stability in Yoghurt

“…Fortification of vitamin D in food matrix also brings limitation within it, which is degradation of vitamin D in target food (Tangpricha et al, 2003;Wagner et al, 2008). one of the well reported berry rich in diverse groups of phytochemicals (Benchennouf et al, 2017;Chen et al, 2014;Vulić et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2015;Zhang, 2013;Zhang et al, 2016). Recent literature suggests that addition of natural fruits extract, rich in phenolic contents, offers high antioxidative properties as well as various other health benefits (Cossu et al, 2009;El-Said et al, 2014;Karaaslan et al, 2011).…”