Novel Insights into Corema album Berries: Vibrational Profile and Biological Activity.

Joana Marques,Aida Moreira Da Silva,Luís A E Batista De Carvalho,Maria Paula M Marques,Ana M Amado,Maria João Barroca,Daniel Martin,Nádia Osório,Viktoriya Lysenko

doi:10.3390/plants10091761

Joana Marques, Aida Moreira Da Silva + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10091761

Copy DOI

Abstract

This study reports an evaluation of the biological properties of the edible berries from Corema album, an endemic shrub of the Portuguese coastline, aiming at its use as a nutraceutical. Different methanolic extracts were obtained from the pulp and seed of fresh berries: pulp extract, seed residue, and seed oil (extracted and characterized for the first time). For each of these, the antioxidant activity was assessed, by different methods, as well as the antimicrobial ability. Overall, the seeds were shown to be the most nutraceutical part of the berry since they showed higher antioxidant activity, while the pulp extract displayed a significant antimicrobial capacity against several clinically relevant bacterial strains. Furthermore, the extracts were fully characterized by complementary infrared and Raman spectroscopy, revealing the presence of phenolic acids, polysaccharides, sugars, and triterpenoids in the pulp, high content of unsaturated fatty acids in the seed oil, and significant amounts of phenolics and carotenoids in the seed residue. These results pave the way for a reliable correlation between chemical composition and biological activity, in edible fruit samples.

Highlights

The Portuguese coastline is rich in many indigenous maritime plants with a high potential to become novel functional food ingredients
The fresh berries pulp (FBP) extract presents the lower phenolic, flavonoid, and anthocyanin contents when compared to the berries seed residue (BSR) and berries seed oil (BSO) extracts (Table 1)
The results show that the seeds are much richer in phenolic and flavonoid compounds and that the reddish BSR extract has the highest total monomeric anthocyanin content (TMAC) value

Summary

Introduction

The Portuguese coastline is rich in many indigenous maritime plants with a high potential to become novel functional food ingredients (or sources of these). Don is a dioecious perennial shrub of the Ericaceae family, endemic of the Iberian Peninsula Atlantic coastal dunes. It is a branched bush, that can reach up to 1 m, with white acidic edible berries (Portuguese white crowberries or “camarinhas” in Portuguese), 5–8 mm in diameter [1]. The genus Corema was included in the Ericaceae family in 1959 since traditionally it belonged to the Empetraceae family, which comprises two more genus—Empetrum and Ceratiola. The two species of Corema genus, C. conradii Torrey and C. album (L.) D. Don ex Steudel, can be found in Atlantic coastlines—C. conradii in the eastern coast of North America and C. album in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Azores islands Don ex Steudel, can be found in Atlantic coastlines—C. conradii in the eastern coast of North America and C. album in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Azores islands (subsp. azoricum Pinto da Silva) [2]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion