title: Evaluation of antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities of safflower natural dyes during flowering.
abstract: Two Carthamus tinctorius varieties (Jawhara and 104) were studied in order to investigate their natural dyes contents and biological activities. Obtained results showed that quinochalcone contents and antioxidant activities varied considerably as function of flowering stages. So flowers at fructification stage contained the highest carthamin content with the strongest antioxidant capacity with all assays (FRAP, DPPH, and chelating power methods). In parallel, we showed a decrease in the content of precarthamin. The quantitative variation of these molecules could be due to colour change of C. tinctorius flowers. Correlation analysis indicated that the ABTS method showed the highest correlation coefficients with carthamin and precarthamin contents, that is, 0.886 and 0.973, respectively. Concerning the regional effect, the contents of precarthamin and carthamin varied significantly (P < 0.05) at studied regions with the optimum production given by samples of Beja (902.41 μg/g DW and 42.05 μg/g DW, respectively, at flowering stage). During flowering, the antimicrobial activity of these two natural dyes increased where the maximum inhibitory effect mentioned with carthamin mainly against E. coli (iz = 25.89 mm) at fructification stage. Therefore, the increased frequency of resistance to commonly used antibiotics leads to the search for new effective natural drugs at food and pharmaceutical industries.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Nidhal
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Kamel
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4826-8041
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Msaada
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Salem
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Elkahoui
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Via Muroni, 2307100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mangano
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Sana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Azaeiz
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Imen
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ben Slimen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Sarra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kefi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Via Muroni, 2307100 Sassari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pintore
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Ferid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Limam
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Bioactive Substances, Biotechnology Center in Borj-Cedria Technopol, BP 901, 2050 Hammam-Lif, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Brahim
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Marzouk
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D031178:Carthamus / Q000737:chemistry; D002599:Chalcone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry; D003512:Cyclohexanones / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D035264:Flowers / Q000737:chemistry; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects; D005960:Glucosides / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000737:chemistry; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000935:Antifungal Agents; D000975:Antioxidants; D003512:Cyclohexanones; D016166:Free Radical Scavengers; D005960:Glucosides; D010936:Plant Extracts; C415324:precarthamin; D002599:Chalcone; C103141:carthamine