Dandelion seeds as a new and valuable source of bioactive extracts obtained using the supercritical fluid extraction technique

Abstract

The present study was intended to explore dandelion seeds as a new source of biologically active constituents using an environmentally friendly extraction technique. The process-function relationships were determined by following the influence of temperature (40 and 60 °C) and pressure (from 100 to 450 bar) on the amount of separated extract, its density, composition, and bioactivity. It was shown that the supercritical CO2-assisted technique enables the separation of 0.6–25.0% extract having a density in a range of 827–941 kg/m3. Extracts contained a high amount of unsaturated fatty acids (89.9–90.6%) including linoleic acid (71%) and α-linolenic acid (up to 0.9%), as well as phenolic (5.5–12.1 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid compounds (208.6–564.5 μg QE/g). The antioxidant activity test showed that 20 mg/mL extract solutions inhibit 26.0–64.4% DPPH radical. In addition, extracts showed significant antimicrobial activity, especially against Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Micrococcus luteus. There was no cytotoxic effect on normal green monkey kidney cells and human skin fibroblasts nor on hypopharyngeal cancer, cervical adenocarcinoma, and colon cancer cells. The study indicated the possible safe application of bioactive dandelion seeds extract in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industry.