ndustrial Crops and Products
Volume 62, December 2014, Pages 42-46
a
Mountain Research Centre (CIMO), ESA, Polytechnic Institute of
Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia, 1172, 5301-855 Bragança, Portugal
b Department of Nutrition and Bromatology II, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, Pza Ramón y Cajal, s/n. E-28040 Madrid, Spain
c Centre of Chemistry, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
b Department of Nutrition and Bromatology II, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, Pza Ramón y Cajal, s/n. E-28040 Madrid, Spain
c Centre of Chemistry, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Abstract
Chestnut trees are one of the most important crops in the north-eastern part of Portugal,
representing millions of euros of yearly income. There are many
ancestral claims of the health benefits of the consumption of chestnut
flowers in infusions that remain unproven. In this manuscript, the
antitumor and antimicrobial potential of chestnut flowers from two
cultivars, Judia and Longal, extracted through infusions and decoctions
are reported. In terms of antitumor activity, the most sensitive cell
lines were HepG2 and HCT15 with the cultivar Judia showing higher
activity for HCT15 and Longal for HepG2, regardless of the extraction
methods. Regarding the antibacterial activity of the extracts,
decoctions proved to be more effective with lower minimum inhibition
concentrations, while infusions were better in terms of antifungal
activity. The good overall antimicrobial activity could justify the
inclusion of the flowers in food chain processing to act as a natural
antimicrobial. Furthermore, the results corroborate some of the
ancestral claims of the consumption of these flowers. © 2014 Elsevier
B.V.
Author keywords
Antibacterial; Antifungal; Antitumor; Castanea sativa; Decoction; Infusion
Indexed keywords
Engineering controlled terms: Cell culture; Drug infusion; Fruits; Microorganisms
Anti-fungal; Anti-tumors; Antibacterial; Castanea sativa; Decoction
Engineering main heading: Drug products; Drug infusion
GEOBASE Subject Index: antimicrobial activity; cultivar; deciduous tree; diet; disease treatment; ethnobotany;
extraction method; flower; medicinal plant; plant extract; tumor;
concentration (composition); crop plant; food chain; health care; tree
Regional Index: Portugal
Species Index: Castanea sativa
ISSN: 09266690
CODEN: ICRDESource Type: Journal
Original language: English
DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.08.016Document Type: Article
Publisher: Elsevier
