Abstract
Spiny burs of Castanea mollissima Blume (Chinese chestnut) are usually discarded as industrial waste during post-harvesting processing. The objective of this study was to establish an extraction and isolation procedure for tannins from chestnut burs, and to assess their potential antioxidant activity. Aqueous ethanol solution was used as extraction solvent, and HPD 100 macroporous resin column was applied for isolation. The influence of solvent concentration in the extraction and elution process on extraction yield, tannins and polyphenols content, as well as antioxidant potential, including DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging ability, reducing power ability and cellular antioxidant ability were assessed. In both the extraction and isolation process, 50% aqueous ethanol led to superior total tannins and polyphenols content as well as significantly higher antioxidant activity. In addition, the antioxidant activity and the total tannins content in extracts and fractions had a positive linear correlation, and the predominant components responsible for antioxidant activities were characterized as hydrolysable tannins. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the enrichment of tannins from burs of C. mollissim using macroporous resin chromatography, and to assess the cellular antioxidant activity of them.
Highlights
Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) belongs to the Castanea family and is a wood plant widely cultivated in Europe, North American and Asia as an economic crop
This trend was consistent with the report of Vázquez [10], who measured the extracting yield from C. saiva burs using four different extraction solvents including acetone, ethanol, methanol, and water, and found that the extraction yield decreased as the polarity of the solvent decreased
The present study investigated the extraction and isolation process of chestnut burs tannins, as well as the tannins’ chemical and biological activity as natural antioxidants and antiradicals
Summary
Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) belongs to the Castanea family and is a wood plant widely cultivated in Europe, North American and Asia as an economic crop. Vázquez and co-workers [10,11] did lots of valuable studies on the polyphenols from burs of C. sativa. They found that the extract from C. sativa burs exhibited antioxidant potential in the DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2picrylhydrazyl), ABTS+ (2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radicals and reducing power assays. To obtain the polyphenols from the burs of C. sativa., Vázquez tried several extraction solvents, and found that the extraction yield, the total polyphenols content and antioxidant activity of extracts decreased with the polarity of the solvent [10], and recommended ethanol as the extraction solution for food or pharmaceutical application due to its GRAS (General Recognized as Safe) status [11]. The objective of this study was to establish such a procedure for extraction and isolation, as well as to assess the antioxidant activity of the resulting extracts
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
