Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy;2. Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, Viale F. Stagno d'Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy Foundation “Prof. Antonio Imbesi”, University of Messina, Piazza Pugliatti 1, 98122 Messina, Italy;3. Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, Section of Botany, Anthropology and Zoology, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi 38, 90123 Palermo, Italy;4. PLANTA/Research, Documentation and Training Center, Via Serraglio Vecchio 28, 90123 Palermo, Italy;5. Department of Biomedical, Dental, Morphological and Functional Imaging Sciences, University of Messina, Via Consolare Valeria, 98125 Messina, Italy |
Abstract: | This work aimed to investigate Sinapis pubescens subsp. pubescens spontaneously grown in Sicily (Italy) as new potential source of active metabolites; specifically, a comparative study on leaf, flower, and stem hydroalcoholic extracts was performed. Polyphenols were quantitatively determined by spectrophotometric methods and characterized by HPLC-PDA/ESI-MS; a total of 55 polyphenolic compounds were identified, highlighting considerably different qualitative-quantitative profiles. The extracts showed antioxidant activity, evaluated by in vitro assays; particularly, the leaf extract displayed the best radical scavenging activity (DPPH test) and reducing power, while the flower extract showed the greatest chelating activity. The antimicrobial properties of the extracts were investigated against bacteria and yeasts by standard methods; no antimicrobial activity was found against the strains tested. The extracts resulted to be non-toxic after preliminary toxicity evaluation by the Artemia salina lethality bioassay. The aerial parts of S. pubescens subsp. pubescens proved to be valuable sources of antioxidants for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. |