Abstract
Sanguisorba minor Scop. is a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean region which exhibits several medicinal activities. In the present study, plant growth, chemical composition, and antitumor and antimicrobial properties of S. minor plants were evaluated under different growing conditions. In particular, plants were grown on different substrates, namely (A) peat, (B) peat : perlite (1 : 1) and (C) peat : perlite (2 : 1). The dry weight of the aerial parts and roots was higher for the peat treatment (A), whereas plant growth was severely affected in the peat : perlite (1 : 1) treatment (B). The major detected sugars were fructose and glucose, while the peat : perlite (2 : 1) treatment resulted in a significant increase of α-tocopherol, glucose and total sugars content, especially in the aerial parts. Oxalic acid and citric acid were the major organic acids detected, with a varied effect of growth substrate on organic acid profile. Growth substrate and plant part also had a significant effect on fatty acid composition, especially on linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid content which was higher in the peat : perlite (1 : 1) treatment in both aerial parts and roots. An impact on the composition of phenolic compounds was also observed, where the plants grown on peat : perlite (2 : 1) and peat : perlite (1 : 1) substrates had the highest content of individual and total phenolic compounds in their aerial parts and roots, respectively. Moreover, roots contained significantly higher amounts of phenolic compounds than the aerial parts. Moreover, plant extracts exhibited antiproliferative activity against four tumor cell lines (HeLa, HepG2, MCF-7 and NCI-H460) and a primary culture of porcine liver cells (PLP2), as well as significant antimicrobial properties. In conclusion, S. minor presented significant bioactive properties, while growth substrates affected the nutritional value, chemical composition, antitumor and antimicrobial properties of the species which could be probably attributed to the higher phenolic compound content and different compositions of phenolic compounds. Therefore, although the species is commonly found in the Mediterranean region, it is underexploited yet and its plant tissues could be a potential source of natural bioactive compounds with further use in pharmaceutical and medicinal applications.
Highlights
Sanguisorba minor L. is a multiannual plant 60–105 cm tall, and is a member of the Rosaceae family.[1]The species is widely distributed throughout Europe and is commonly found in dry and semi-dry grasslands of the Mediterranean basin.[2,3] S. minor and other species of this genus (e.g. S. officinalis) are commonly used as medicinal species, while they are edible and their young shoots and leaves are usually used in mixed vegetable salads.[2,4,5] Plants grown in the wild are used as forage species due to their high nutritional value, dry matter digestibility and metabolizable energy.[6]Sanguisorba species are rich sources of secondary metabolites with significant bioactive properties
Our results revealed that the growing conditions during the period of April to May were more favourable for the peat treatment in comparison to the other substrate treatments, probably due to the better water retention properties and the alleviation of high-temperature-induced stress conditions for plants
The present work was carried out in order to evaluate the effects of substrates on the growth of Sanguisorba minor plants, and on the chemical composition and antitumor and antimicrobial capacity of extracts from roots and aerial parts of the plants
Summary
Sanguisorba minor L. (small or little burnet) is a multiannual plant 60–105 cm tall, and is a member of the Rosaceae family.[1]The species is widely distributed throughout Europe and is commonly found in dry and semi-dry grasslands of the Mediterranean basin.[2,3] S. minor and other species of this genus (e.g. S. officinalis) are commonly used as medicinal species, while they are edible and their young shoots and leaves are usually used in mixed vegetable salads.[2,4,5] Plants grown in the wild are used as forage species due to their high nutritional value, dry matter digestibility and metabolizable energy.[6]Sanguisorba species are rich sources of secondary metabolites with significant bioactive properties. The species is widely distributed throughout Europe and is commonly found in dry and semi-dry grasslands of the Mediterranean basin.[2,3] S. minor and other species of this genus (e.g. S_officinalis) are commonly used as medicinal species, while they are edible and their young shoots and leaves are usually used in mixed vegetable salads.[2,4,5] Plants grown in the wild are used as forage species due to their high nutritional value, dry matter digestibility and metabolizable energy.[6]. According to Zhao et al.,[7] more than 120 compounds belonging to various chemical classes (flavonoids, phenols and triterpenoids) have been detected in the aboveground parts and roots of S. minor and 1340 | Food Funct., 2019, 10, 1340–1351
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