Abstract
Morus alba L. (white mulberry) has been commonly used as a functional food and for medicinal purposes. Hence, the aim of the study was to compare the phenolic profile of white mulberry commercial samples in relation to their antioxidant potential and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity. It is of interest to determine whether herbal products originating from different commercial sources differ in their phenolic profiles. For this purpose, a simple and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was used for the separation and determination of ten major phenolic compounds. Total phenolic (TPC), total flavonoid (TFC), and total phenolic acid contents (TPAC), as well as l(+)-ascorbic acid (ASA) contents, were determined. The antioxidant potential was assessed by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical) scavenging activity and ferric-reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, while the AChE inhibitory activity was determined by the Ellman assay for water extracts. The study revealed that excluding two herbal products containing fruits and a sample containing leaves of white mulberry, yerba mate and lemon, the remaining samples were generally consistent in terms of phenolic composition as well as antioxidant potential and AChE inhibitory activity. This reflects the health-promoting properties of the samples under study. Moreover, the results showed that the water extracts of white mulberry were richer in phenolic compounds and presented higher antioxidant activity than the hydromethanolic extracts. However, the water extracts showed low inhibitory activity against AChE. Moreover, the correlation analysis indicated a high positive relationship between phenolic composition and antioxidant activity in extracts of white mulberry. Overall, the obtained results may be useful in the evaluation of new dietary supplements and food products. The water extracts of white mulberry could be used for antioxidant purposes, while the hydromethanolic extracts could be incorporated in antioxidant formulations.
Highlights
White mulberry (Morus alba L.) of the Moraceae family is native to Asia but is widely cultivated throughout Africa, Europe, and North and South America [1]
It indicates that according to the first principal component (PCl) axis, Morus alba L. samples are gathered into two sectors
Before high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis, hydromethanolic and water extracts of white mulberry were filtered through a 0.45 μm nylon filter film (Mecherey, Nagel, Germany) and 20 μL of the filtrate was injected into the HPLC system
Summary
White mulberry (Morus alba L.) of the Moraceae family is native to Asia but is widely cultivated throughout Africa, Europe, and North and South America [1]. Phytochemical studies have identified terpenoids (e.g., linalool, citral, linalyl acetate, and terpinyl acetate), alkaloids including 1-deoxynojirimycin (the most potent glycosidase inhibitor that decreases blood sugar levels), stilbenoids (e.g., resveratrol, piceatannol, rhapontigenin, astringin, pterostilbene, piceid, rhaponticin, and vitisin A), flavonoids (e.g., quercetin, rutin, isoquercetin, cyaniding 3-rutinoside, cyaniding 3-glucoside, and 3-(-malonyglucoside)), phenolic acids (e.g., gallic, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, chlorogenic, syringic, p-coumaric, ferulic and m-coumaric), and coumarins in Morus alba [14,15,16,17,18,19] Among these compounds, rutin, quercetin, and apigenin are the main bioactive constituents in white mulberry leaves. Data on the AChE inhibitory activity of white mulberry are missing in the literature
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