Abstract
The Italian “Marrone di Roccadaspide” (Castanea sativa), a labeled Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product, represents an important economic resource for the Italian market. With the aim to give an interesting opportunity to use chestnuts by-products for the development of nutraceutical and/or cosmetic formulations, the investigation of burs and leaves along with chestnuts of C. sativa, cultivar “Marrone di Roccadaspide”, has been performed. The phenolic, tannin, and flavonoid content of the MeOH extracts of “Marrone di Roccadaspide” burs, leaves, and chestnuts as well as their antioxidant activity by spectrophotometric methods (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC), and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) have been evaluated. Furthermore, a cell-based antioxidant in vitro test along with in vitro assays for the evaluation of the ability to reduce nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation and nitric oxide (NO) production have been carried out. In order to identify the secondary metabolites responsible for the high phenolic content and the strong antioxidant activity shown by leaves and burs extracts, and to highlight the differences between their chemical composition, the analysis of the metabolite profile of the MeOH extracts obtained from both by-products and chestnuts by liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization and multiple-stage linear ion-trap and Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-(-)ESI/LTQOrbitrap/MS/MS) has been performed. LC-MS analysis allowed the identification of different classes of specialized metabolites including hydrolyzable tannins, flavonoids, ellagic acid and phenol glucoside derivatives, and triterpenoids as well as polar lipids. Our results show how the antioxidant activity of the extracts can be correlated to their high tannins and flavonoids content while polar lipids occurring in the MeOH extract of the leaves could contribute to determining its higher anti-inflammatory activity.
Highlights
IntroductionIs a deciduous tree of the Fagaceae family that can be found in south Europe and Asia (China) [1]
The results of phenolic content evaluation by the Folin-Ciocalteu method indicated a high phenolic content in both burs (580.44) and leaves (298.96) extracts, which were expressed as milligrams of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) for gram of extract, but there was no phenolic occurrence in chestnuts extract
In order to correlate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity exhibited by both by-product extracts to their chemical composition, and to investigate the chemical composition of the less active chestnut extract, a comprehensive chemical analysis based on LC-ESI/LTQOrbitrap/MS/MS has been carried out on all tested extracts
Summary
Is a deciduous tree of the Fagaceae family that can be found in south Europe and Asia (China) [1]. Chestnut is composed of the fruit, pericarp (outer shell), integument (inner shell), and bur that surrounds the edible nuts. These fruits, consumed raw or after cooking, are a highly appreciated seasonal (autumn) nut in the Mediterranean countries [2,3]. With France, Spain, and Portugal, is one of the largest European producers of sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa Mill., Fagaceae family). Campania region provides 50% of the chestnut national crops and ‘Marrone di Roccadaspide’, a labeled PGI
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