Abstract

From the ancient times, plants containing health-oriented compounds in their matrices are used in the treatment of different complaints and diseases. One of these groups are plant secondary metabolites (PSM), especially phenolic compounds, terpenes and terpenoids. A large number of PSM exhibit cytotoxicity against a variety of tumor cells, as well as cancer preventive and anticancer efficacy in preclinical animal models. For this reason, the scientists are looking for new plants containing bioactive phytochemicals. Our interest concentrated on blue-berried honeysuckle, which is a relatively new and not well characterized cultivar grown in Poland. Its berries were shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases and various forms of cancer. These health benefits are ascribed to the high content of antioxidants. However, there is still no full characteristics of the antioxidant and terpene profiles determining the healthiness of these berries. Therefore, we undertook the study to determine and compare the phytochemical composition and antioxidant capacity of the berries of different blue-berried honeysuckle cultivars harvested at two plantations in Northern Poland. The antioxidant activity of analyzed berries varied among cultivars and were ranging from 170 to 417 µmol TE/g dm in ABTS and from 93 to 166 µmol TE/g dm in DPPH and FC tests. The highest antioxidant activity in all tests was observed for the Jolanta cultivar from Osielsko and the lowest for the Brazowa cultivar from the same plantation. The major anthocyanin in Polish genotypes was cyanidin-3-glucoside, which constituted 84−92% of the total anthocyanins. The total content of anthocyanins and polyphenols were in the range of 13−35 g and 15–41 g per 100 g fw, respectively. The TLC and HPLC antioxidant profiles indicated that anthocyanins are the major antioxidants in all berries studied. The employment of GCxGC-TOFMS revealed the complex terpene profile of berries that included 18 monoterpenes, 3 sesquiterpenes, 54 terpenoids, and 11 norisoprenoids. The main component of the terpene fraction was eucalyptol with a concentration ranging from 57 to 351 µg/kg fw. The berries of blue-berried honeysuckle are also a good source of minerals, especially potassium (199-402 mg/100 g fw). Among the cultivars studied, the most promising health-promoting potential can be ascribed to the Jolanta variety from Osielsko.

Authors (5)