Assessment of Antioxidant and Cytoprotective Potential of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) Grown in Southern Italy.
Jatropha (Jatropha curcasL.) is a plant native of Central and South America, but widely distributed in the wild or semi-cultivated areas in Africa, India, and South East Asia. Although studies are available in literature on the polyphenolic content and bioactivity ofJatropha curcasL., no information is currently available on plants grown in pedoclimatic and soil conditions different from the autochthon regions. The aim of the present work was to characterize the antioxidant system developed by the plant under a new growing condition and to evaluate the polyphenol amount in a methanolic extract of leaves. Along with these analyses we have also tested the antioxidant and cytoprotective activities on lymphocytes. RP-HPLC-DAD analysis of flavonoids revealed a chromatographic profile dominated by the presence of flavoneC-glucosydes. Vitexin is the most abundant identified compound followed by vicenin-2, stellarin-2, rhoifolin, and traces of isovitexin and isorhoifolin. Methanolic extract had high scavenging activity in all antioxidant assays tested and cytoprotective activity on lymphocytes exposed to tertz-buthylhydroperoxide. The results highlighted a well-defined mechanism of adaptation of the plant and a significant content of secondary metabolites with antioxidant properties, which are of interest for their potential uses, especially as a rich source of biologically active products.
Department of Agricultural Science, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy. tpapalia@unime.it.
Teresa
T
Papalia
Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, 98166 Messina, Italy. dbarreca@unime.it.
Davide
D
Barreca
Department of Agricultural Science, "Mediterranea" University, Feo di Vito, 89124 Reggio Calabria, Italy. mpanuccio@unirc.it.
Maria Rosaria
MR
Panuccio
D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D031286:Jatropha / Q000737:chemistry*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology
D000975:Antioxidants; D005419:Flavonoids; D010936:Plant Extracts
Jatropha curcas L.; RP-HPLC-DAD analysis of flavonoids; antioxidant; cytoprotective activities; polyphenols