Phytochemical analysis, antioxidant, antibacterial, and cytotoxic activities of leaves and roots of Rubus hyrcanus Juz.

Fatemeh Yousefbeyk,Sanaz Hekmatnia,Saeed Ghasemi,Diba Eghbali Koohi,Mehdi Evazalipour,Sara Dabirian,Volker Böhm,Clara Schubert,Yasamin Habibi

doi:10.1007/s00217-021-03866-z

Abstract

Rubus hyrcanus Juz. (Rosaceae), known as Caspian blackberry, is wildly distributed around the Caspian Sea. This study focused on antioxidant, cytotoxic, and antibacterial activities of total extracts and different fractions from the roots and leaves of this species. The total phenolics and flavonoid contents were also evaluated. Finally, the phenolic profiles of selected fractions were determined using HPLC–DAD and LC–MS/MS. The results indicated that the total phenolics content (TPC) of root total extract (RTE) was 3.5 times that of leaves (340.4 and 102.7 mg GAE/g, respectively). The TPC of three root fractions ranged from 226.6 to 392.9 mg GAE/g, while in leaves fractions, it ranged between 68.3 and 101.8 mg GAE/g. The total extract of leaves had higher contents of total flavonoids than roots (70.5 and 8.9 mg QE/g, respectively). The methanol fractions of both parts had the highest amounts of flavonoids. The root methanol fraction (RMF) had the best antioxidant effect in both DPPH radical scavenging assay (IC50: 9.16 μg ml−1) and total antioxidant capacity test (1010.5 mg ɑTE/g). The RMF and RTE had potent antibacterial activities against Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus (MIC 1.5 mg ml−1). In the MTT assay, ethyl acetate fractions of roots and leaves exhibited the best cytotoxicity (IC50 247 and 227 μg ml−1, respectively) and the highest selectivity indexes (4.73 and 5.31, respectively). Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of gallic acid, p-coumaric acid, and chlorogenic acid in leaves ethyl acetate fraction, chlorogenic acid in leaves methanol fraction, and gallic acid in the root ethyl acetate fraction.

Highlights

Oxidative stress, defined as an imbalance between the production of oxidative agents and antioxidant systems, can lead to oxidative damage to the macromolecules like lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids [1,2,3]
The total phenolics content (TPC) of roots and leaves of R. hyrcanus was determined by the Folin–Ciocalteu method
Asnaashari et al determined that the amount of TPC in leaves of R. fruticosus ranged from 57.6 to 108.6 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g and the methanol extract had the highest concentration of phenolic compounds

Summary

Introduction

Oxidative stress, defined as an imbalance between the production of oxidative agents and antioxidant systems, can lead to oxidative damage to the macromolecules like lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids [1,2,3]. Medicinal plants have been historically used for their antibacterial properties against food-borne bacteria and food spoilage pathogens to improve the safety of products and prolong their shelf life [13] Bacteria such as Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are widespread food-borne and food spoilage bacteria that can cause diseases [14,15,16]. Various phenolic compounds exhibit potent antibacterial activity and, have attracted attention as a natural replacement of synthetic preservatives in the food industry [17] The mechanism of such activity can be due to the alteration of cell membrane permeability, losing integrity, changing the cell wall rigidity, and the modifications of several intracellular functions such as hydrogen binding between polyphenols and bacterial enzymes [17]

Methods

Results

Conclusion