Development of an Optimized Drying Process for the Recovery of Bioactive Compounds from the Autumn Fruits of Berberis vulgaris L. and Crataegus monogyna Jacq.

Cadmiel Moldovan,Stefania Cesa,Gianina Crișan,Maria Inês Dias,Cristian R Sisea,Mihai Babotă,Lillian Barros,Isabel C.F.R Ferreira,Andrei Mocan,Carla Pereira,Corneliu Tanase,Alexandru Gavan,Oleg Frumuzachi,Luigi Menghini

doi:10.3390/antiox10101579

Abstract

Hot air drying has proven to be an efficient method to preserve specific edible plant materials with medicinal properties. This is a process involving chemical, physical, and biological changes in plant matrices. Understanding these processes will lead to an improvement in the yields of bioactive compounds. This study aims to optimize the drying process of two species’ fruits used in folk medicine, Berberis vulgaris and Crataegus monogyna. The optimized extracts’ antioxidant capacity was assessed using various assays, with the barberry extract showing very good activity (50.85, 30.98, and 302.45 mg TE/g dw for DPPH, TEAC, and FRAP assays, respectively). Both species exerted good fungal α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50 = 0.34 and 0.56 mg/mL, respectively) but no activity on mammalian α-glucosidase. Additionally, this study identified and quantified the main bioactive compounds. The results presented herein are a breakthrough in industrializing this drying process. Additional studies are necessary to mechanistically understand the drying process involved in these plant materials.

Highlights

IntroductionMedicinal plants have traditionally been used since the earliest times for the treatment of a wide range of ailments
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Medicinal plants have traditionally been used since the earliest times for the treatment of a wide range of ailments
As the scope of this research was to extend the process to an industrial scale, we needed to find a balance between the temperature and the time required for the whole process

Summary

Introduction

Medicinal plants have traditionally been used since the earliest times for the treatment of a wide range of ailments. Many of them are appreciated for their nutritional value and for their organoleptic characteristics, for which they are used in dishes [1]. One of the most used methods for plant conservation, whether for medicinal or culinary purposes, is the drying process. Drying is at first glance a process that involves the removal of water from the plant material, there are many physical, chemical, and biological.

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