Wild and Cultivated Centaurea raphanina subsp. mixta: A Valuable Source of Bioactive Compounds.

Spyridon A Petropoulos,Marija Ivanov,Ângela Fernandes,Maria Ines Dias,Ricardo Calhelha,Marina Sokovic,Francesco Di Gioia,Isabel C F R Ferreira,Carla Pereira,Nikolaos Tzortzakis,Lillian Barros

doi:10.3390/antiox9040314

Abstract

Centaurea raphanina subsp. mixta (DC.) Runemark is a wild edible species endemic to Greece. This study evaluated the chemical composition and bioactive properties of wild and cultivated C. raphanina subsp. mixta plants. Wild plants had higher nutritional value than cultivated ones, whereas cultivated plants contained more tocopherols. Glucose and sucrose were higher in cultivated plants and trehalose in wild ones. Oxalic and total organic acids were detected in higher amounts in cultivated samples. The main fatty acids were α-linolenic, linoleic and palmitic acid, while wild plants were richer in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Two pinocembrin derivatives were the main phenolic compounds being detected in higher amounts in wild plants. Regarding the antioxidant activity, wild and cultivated plants were more effective in the oxidative haemolysis (OxHLIA) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assays, respectively. Moreover, both extracts showed moderate cytotoxicity in non-tumor cell lines (PLP2), while cultivated plants were more effective against cervical carcinoma (HeLa), breast carcinoma (MCF-7) and non-small lung cancer (NCI-H460) cell lines. Finally, wild plants showed higher antimicrobial activity than cultivated plants against specific pathogens. In conclusion, the cultivation of C. raphanina subsp. mixta showed promising results in terms of tocopherols content and antiproliferative effects, however further research is needed to decrease oxalic acid content.

Highlights

Wild edible species or wild greens represent a rich patrimony of the Mediterranean basin with several uses in local and traditional cuisine, as well as in traditional and folk medicine [1,2,3,4]
Moisture content was higher in cultivated plants (93.3 g/100 g fw compared to 84.8 g/100 g fw of wild plants) due to regular irrigation that cultivated plants received during the growing period, whereas fat, protein, ash and carbohydrates content
Who studied the antioxidant profile of four wild leafy Asteraceae (Helminthotheca echioides L., Sonchus oleraceus L., Taraxacum officinale Weber, Urospermum picroides (L.) Schmidt) and other wild edible species collected in Southern Italy, and by Afolayan and Jimoh [46] who studied the nutritional value of Sonchus asper (L.) Hill and Chenopodium album L. among other wild leafy species

Summary

Introduction

Wild edible species or wild greens represent a rich patrimony of the Mediterranean basin with several uses in local and traditional cuisine, as well as in traditional and folk medicine [1,2,3,4]. Antioxidants 2020, 9, 314 common ingredients of the so called Mediterranean diet [5,6] These effects are mostly associated with their high content in phytochemicals such as flavanones [7], sterols [6], phenolic acids [8,9,10], sesquiterpene lactones [11,12,13], omega-3 fatty acids [14,15] and other secondary metabolites with bioactive and antioxidant properties. The increasing demand for functional foods has put wild edible greens in the center of attention and many recent studies have highlighted the potential of commercial exploitation of wild plants that may diversify modern diets and increase throughout the year the availability of such products [9,16,17,18,19,20]. Domestication of wild species needs several aspects to be considered since various reports highlighted significant changes of bioactive compounds content in domesticated species compared to their wild counterparts, while scarce literature reports exist regarding their agronomic requirements [17,21].

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Conclusion