Abstract
Anthocyanins and flavones are important pigments responsible for the coloration of fruits. Mulberry fruit is rich in anthocyanins and flavonols, which have multiple uses in traditional Chinese medicine. The antinociceptive and antibacterial activities of total flavonoids (TF) from black mulberry (MnTF, TF of Morus nigra) and non-black mulberry (MmTF, TF of Morus mongolica; and MazTF, TF of Morus alba ‘Zhenzhubai’) fruits were studied. MnTF was rich in anthocyanins (11.3 mg/g) and flavonols (0.7 mg/g) identified by ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tunable ultraviolet/mass single-quadrupole detection (UPLC–TUV/QDa). Comparatively, MmTF and MazTF had low flavonol contents and MazTF had no anthocyanins. MnTF showed significantly higher antinociceptive and antibacterial activities toward Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus than MmTF and MazTF. MnTF inhibited the expression of interleukin 6 (IL-6), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), phospho-p65 (p-p65) and phospho-IκBα (p-IκBα), and increased interleukin 10 (IL-10). Additionally, mice tests showed that cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G), rutin (Ru) and isoquercetin (IQ) were the main active ingredients in the antinociceptive process. Stronger antinociceptive effect of MnTF was correlated with its high content of anthocyanins and flavonols and its inhibitory effects on proinflammatory cytokines, iNOS and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathway-related proteins.
Highlights
Mulberry is a deciduous tree or shrub of the genus Morus in the family Moraceae [1]
Three anthocyanins and five flavonols were detected in the total flavonoids (TF) by UPLC with tunable ultraviolet (TUV) and quadrupole dalton (QDa) detectors
We investigated the antibacterial properties of anthocyanins and flavonols from mulberry fruits against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and S. aureus
Summary
Mulberry is a deciduous tree or shrub of the genus Morus in the family Moraceae [1]. It has been cultivated and used in traditional medicine by humans for more than 5000 years [2,3,4]. Eight species of Morus were identified by phylogenetic analysis of internal transcribed spacer sequences [7]. The species can be divided into black mulberry, white mulberry and red mulberry [1]. Previous research has shown that mulberry fruits are rich in anthocyanins, which are responsible for the fruit color [5,8,9]. Anthocyanins have important roles in plants and animals, such as protecting plants from damage caused by UV light, attracting pollinators and serving as antioxidants [10,11,12]
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