Journal
BMC COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
Volume 19, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
BMC
DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2487-7
Keywords
Cytinus; Antimicrobial; Antioxidant; Tyrosinase inhibitors; Anti-biofilm; Gallotannins
Categories
Funding
- University of Pisa [PRA 2017_18]
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Background: Cytinus is small genus of endophytic parasitic plants distributed in South Africa, Madagascar, and in the Mediterranean region. In the latter area, two species occur, Cytinushypocistis and C. ruber, distinguished by both morphological characters and ecological traits. We characterized the ethanolic and aqueous extracts obtained from the inflorescences of C. hypocistis and C. ruber collected in Sardinia, Italy, and explored their tannin content, antioxidant properties and antimicrobial activities. Methods: Total phenolic contents were determined by Folin-Ciocalteu spectrophotometric method. Tannin content was determined by HPLC. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was tested with both electron transfer-based (FRAP, TEAC, DPPH) and spectrophotometric HAT methods (ORAC-PYR). The antimicrobial activities of extracts/compounds were evaluated using the broth microdilution method. The bactericidal activity was evaluated using the time-kill method. Biofilm formation was evaluated by crystal violet (CV) staining assay. Results: Characterization of the tannin profile of C. hypocistis and C. ruber revealed a significant amount of gallotannins, in particular 1-O-galloyl-beta-D-glucose. In addition, pentagalloyl-O-beta-D-glucose was present in all extracts, reaching the concentration of 0.117 g/kg in the ethanolic extract of C. hypocistis. C. hypocistis extracts displayed a strongest antioxidant activity than C. ruber extracts. Three Gram-positive bacterial species tested (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcusepidermidis, Enterococcus faecium) resulted sensitive to both Cytinus extracts, with MICs ranging from 125 to 500 mu g/ml for aqueous extracts and from 31.25 to 250 mu g/ml for ethanolic extracts; on the contrary, Gram-negative strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae) were not affected by Cytinus extracts. Intriguingly, we observed the suppressive activity of ethanolic extracts of C. hypocistis and C. ruber on biofilm formation of S. epidermidis. Experiments performed with synthetic compounds indicated that pentagalloyl-O-beta-D-glucose is likely to be one of the active antimicrobial components of Cytinus extracts. Conclusions: These findings show that Cytinus extracts have antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, suggesting a possible application of Cytinus as sources of natural antimicrobials and antioxidants.
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