Abstract
Cydonia oblonga Mill., normally known as the quince fruit, has been widely used in agro-food industries mainly to produce jams and jellies. However, other parts of the plants are still underutilized and not completely assessed for their nutraceutical profile. Therefore, in this work, the polyphenolic profile of C. oblonga was investigated using an untargeted metabolomics approach based on high-resolution mass spectrometry. Several compounds were identified in the different parts of the plants, including flavonoids (i.e., anthocyanins, flavones, flavan-3-ols, and flavonols), phenolic acids (both hydroxycinnamics and hydroxybenzoics), low-molecular-weight phenolics (tyrosol equivalents), lignans, and stilbenes. Overall, C. oblonga leaves showed the highest in vitro antioxidant potential, as revealed by 2,2-difenil-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-Azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) assays, being 189.5, 285.6, 158.9, and 348.8 mg Trolox Equivalent/g, respectively. The enzymes acetyl- and butyryl-cholinesterases were both inhibited by the different plant parts of C. oblonga, with stems showing the higher inhibitory potential. Interestingly, the fruit extracts were the only parts inhibiting the α-glucosidase, with a value of 1.36 mmol acarbose equivalents (ACAE)/g. On the other hand, strong tyrosinase inhibition was found for stems and leaves, being 72.11 and 68.32 mg Kojic acid Equivalent/g, respectively. Finally, a high number of significant (0.05 < p < 0.01) correlations were outlined between phenolics (mainly anthocyanins, flava-3-ols, and tyrosol equivalents) and the different biological assays. Taken together, our findings suggest a potential exploitation of C. oblonga leaves and stems for the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.
Highlights
Cydonia oblonga Mill. belongs to the family of Rosaceae and it is very popular in terms of nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and ornamental properties [1]
Sut and co-authors [12] preliminarily evaluated the quince fruit as a source of antioxidant phytoconstituents for nutraceutical and functional food applications, demonstrating that the procyanidins and caffeoyl esters of phenolic acids were the main contributors to the antioxidant activity detected
The findings showed that C. oblonga extracts are a promising source of health promoting phenolics, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, and lignans
Summary
Cydonia oblonga Mill. (quince) belongs to the family of Rosaceae and it is very popular in terms of nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, and ornamental properties [1]. The fruits of C. oblonga represent an important source of pectin in the food industry [3]. C. oblonga leaves have been studied because of their important constituents, reported to be effective against several ailments, such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cancer [9,10,11]. Sut and co-authors [12] preliminarily evaluated the quince fruit as a source of antioxidant phytoconstituents for nutraceutical and functional food applications, demonstrating that the procyanidins and caffeoyl esters of phenolic acids were the main contributors to the antioxidant activity detected. The current study has been focused to determine the variation of chemical profiles and biological properties of C. oblonga fruits, leaves, and stems collected from Egypt. The obtained results could be useful to determine which part of the plant is characterized by the highest bioactivity for the pharmaceutical and food industries
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