Investigating the potential of under-utilised plants from the Asteraceae family as a source of natural antimicrobial and antioxidant extracts.
Antimicrobial properties of ethanol and water extracts from eight Asteraceae species were investigated against three Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA and Bacillus cereus) and two Gram negative (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium) bacterial strains. Ethanol extracts from Centaurea scabiosa, Arctium minus, Taraxacum officinale, Centaurea nigra and Cirsium palustre demonstrated antimicrobial activity against strains of S. aureus, MRSA and B. cereus (MIC=187.5-365μg/ml). Ethanol extracts also had higher antioxidant activities and phenolic content demonstrating a link between these compounds and the bioactivity of these extracts. Further investigation into the phenolic content of ethanol extracts using UPLC-MS/MS lead to the identification and quantification of numerous phenolic compounds in all species including; 18 from Cirsium arvense, 16 from Cirsium vulgare, 19 from C. palustre, 15 from C. nigra, 17 from C. scabiosa, 14 from Sonchus asper, 17 from A. minus and 11 from T. officinale.
Department of Food Biosciences, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland; Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
O
O
Kenny
Department of Food Biosciences, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland. Electronic address: thomas.smyth@teagasc.ie.
T J
TJ
Smyth
Department of Food Safety, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland.
D
D
Walsh
Herbarium, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland.
C T
CT
Kelleher
Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
C M
CM
Hewage
Department of Food Biosciences, Teagasc Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland.
N P
NP
Brunton
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019659:Asteraceae / Q000382:microbiology*; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods
D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D000975:Antioxidants
Antimicrobial; Asteraceae; Minimum inhibitory concentration antioxidant; Phenolics; UPLC–MS/MS