Abstract

Crocus sativus L. is commonly used as functional food and medicinal herb in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, the spectrum–effect relationship was established between HPLC fingerprints and in vitro antioxidant activity of saffron to improve the quality evaluation method of saffron. The fingerprints of 21 batches of saffron collected from different regions were assessed, and the data were further analyzed by chemometric methods, including similarity analysis, hierarchical clustering analysis, principal component analysis, and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis. The spectrum–effect relationship between fingerprints and antioxidant effect of saffron was analyzed by grey relational analysis and partial least square methods to figure out the antioxidant component of saffron. Thirteen common peaks of 21 batches of saffron were included in the analysis, and peak 3 (picrocrocin), peak 7 (crocin I), and peak 10 (crocin II) were identified as the main active components responsible for antioxidant efficacy. Besides, a multi-index quality control method was developed for simultaneous determination of these three antioxidant components in saffron. Taken together, this study provided new strategies for the quality control and the development of new bioactive products of saffron in the future.

Highlights

  • Saffron is an expensive spice derived from the stigma of the Crocus sativus L., which has been mainly cultivated in Iran, Greece, Morocco, India, Spain, and Italy

  • Many published studies have focused on the quality standard of saffron, and various analytical techniques were applied to the quality control of saffron, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), ultra-highperformance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), and electronic nose (E-Nose) [19,20,21,22,23]

  • Optimization of HPLC Conditions. e preparation methods of the sample were first studied according to the stirring method in ISO-3632-2011 and the ultrasonic extraction method in our previous study [19, 33]. e results showed that there was no significant difference between the two extraction methods

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Summary

Introduction

Saffron is an expensive spice derived from the stigma of the Crocus sativus L., which has been mainly cultivated in Iran, Greece, Morocco, India, Spain, and Italy. The standard UV-Vis method of ISO was used for grading saffron and may not reveal saffron adulteration with amounts up to 20% (w/w) of safflower, turmeric, or calendula [17, 18]. Many published studies have focused on the quality standard of saffron, and various analytical techniques were applied to the quality control of saffron, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), ultra-highperformance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), and electronic nose (E-Nose) [19,20,21,22,23]. Few studies focused on the correlation between quality evaluation and biological activities of saffron. The relationship between these components and bioactivity requires further investigation to improve the quality control standard of saffron. A quantitative method for the determination of the potential active compounds, crocin I, crocin II, and picrocrocin, was developed

Experimental
Antioxidant Activities
Results and Discussion
Method Validation
Disclosure

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