Abstract
Geranium robertianum L. has been used in folk medicine and herbalism practice for the treatment of various conditions, but the study of its bioactivity has been barely addressed. Although its phytochemical composition has received some attention, contributions to the nutritional composition are practically unknown. Herein, G. robertianum gathered in Trás-os-Montes, Northeastern Portugal, was chemically characterized regarding nutritional parameters, and the antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity against several human tumor cell lines and non-tumor porcine liver primary cells of several aqueous and organic extracts were evaluated. G. robertianum showed to be an equilibrated valuable herb, rich in carbohydrates and proteins, and poor in fat, providing sugars, tocopherols, organic and essential fatty acids. Amongst the extracts, the acetone one showed the highest total phenol and total flavonoid contents, as well as the greatest antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. This extract showed to contain hydrolysable tannins (e.g. geraniin and castalagin/vescalagin), as the main phenolic compounds.
Highlights
Geranium robertianum L., commonly known as Herb Robert or Red Robin, is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Geraniaceae family, being native to Central Europe, Mediterranean and Asia
Geranium robertianum L. has been used in folk medicine and herbalism practice for the treatment of various conditions, but the study of its bioactivity has been barely addressed
The acetone extract was the only one to display consistently low EC50 values in all antioxidant activity assays, which should be related to its higher content of total phenols and flavonoids compared to the other extracts, and low GI50 values against all tumor cell lines
Summary
Geranium robertianum L., commonly known as Herb Robert or Red Robin, is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Geraniaceae family, being native to Central Europe, Mediterranean and Asia. It is common in Europe, with the exception of the far north, in temperate parts of Asia, North Africa, the Atlantic area of North America, and temperate parts of South America.[1] It grows spontaneously, especially in cool and moist places, and it is found most commonly in shaded or partly shaded habitats, such as woodlands, waste lands, roadsides, hedge banks or old walls.[2]. Two recent reports on the antitumor potential of aqueous and aqueous/ethanolic extracts of plants native from Romania against human epidermoid laryngeal carcinoma cells (Hep-2p) can be found in the literature.[7,9]
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