跳至主要内容

Physiological Functions of 70% Ethanol Extracts of 6 Edible Flowers in Vitro

Edible flowers are used to add special colors and flavors to dishes. The color of edible flowers is an important factor that influences consumer purchasing. Studies on edible flowers have mainly analyzed the chemical compositions, identified the chemical structures that result in their distinct colors, and evaluated their physiological functions. Concerning the physiological functions of edible flowers, anti-oxidative activity has been well documented, while other activities have been less reported.

In this study, the physiological functions of 70% ethanol extracts of 6 edible flowers of different colors—Chrysanthemum morifolium (Chry., yellow), Rosa miniature (Rosa, red), Dendrobium phalaenopsis (Dend., purple), Viola x wittrockiana cv. fluna (Fluna, white), Viola x wittrockiana cv. pansy (Pansy, orange), and Primula x juliana (Prim., blue)—were evaluated in vitro. Anti-oxidant activity was evaluated based on the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity. Anti-diabetic activity, anti-hypertensive activity, and anti-adiposity activity were evaluated based on α-amylase/α-glucosidase, ACE, and lipase inhibitory activity, respectively. In addition, all experiments were conducted in triplicate. Data are shown as the means ± standard deviation. A significant difference was determined by Scheffe’s test (P < 0.01).

The extracts showed 2 - 3-fold higher anti-oxidative activity than α-tocopherol, which was not in accordance with their polyphenol content and colors. The anti-diabetic activity of the extracts showed a unique pattern: the extracts from Rosa and Dend. showed only α-amylase inhibitory activity, where as those of Chry. and Prim. selectively showed α-glucosidase activity. The extracts from Fluna and Pansy showed both α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Except for the extract from Dend., the ACE inhibitory activity of the extracts was relatively high, and that of Chry. showed the highest inhibition with an IC50 value of 69.1 ng/mL. None of the extracts showed inhibitory activity of lipase.

These results suggested that daily consumption of the edible flowers used in this study would help prevent diabetes and hypertensive diseases.


Article by Yukihiro Yamamoto and Masato Kono, from Prefectural University of Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan.

Full access: http://mrw.so/52JCNO

Image by www.firstleaf.co.uk, from Flickr-cc.

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Electron Spin and Proton Spin in the Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Like Atomic Systems

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52202#.VIj7tMnQrzE Author(s) Stanisław Olszewski * Affiliation(s) Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland . ABSTRACT The mechanical angular momentum and magnetic moment of the electron and proton spin have been calculated semiclassically with the aid of the uncertainty principle for energy and time. The spin effects of both kinds of the elementary particles can be expressed in terms of similar formulae. The quantization of the spin motion has been done on the basis of the old quantum theory. It gives a quantum number n = 1/2 as the index of the spin state acceptable for both the electron and proton ...
发表评论
阅读全文

Remarks on the Complexity of Signed k-Domination on Graphs

Read  full  paper  at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53574#.VMnXsCzQrzE Author(s)    Chuan-Min Lee 1 , Cheng-Chien Lo 1 , Rui-Xin Ye 2 , Xun Xu 2 , Xiao-Han Shi 2 , Jia-Ying Li 2 Affiliation(s) 1 Department of Computer and Communication Engineering, Ming Chuan University, The First American University in Asia, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Chinese Taipei . 2 Department of Electronic Information Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China . ABSTRACT This paper is motivated by the concept of the signed k-domination problem and dedicated to the complexity of the problem on graphs. For any fixed nonnegative integer k, we show that the signed k-domination problem is NP-complete for doubly chordal graphs. For strongly chordal graphs and distance-hereditary graphs, we show that the signed k-domination problem can be solved in polynomial time. We also show that the problem is linear-time solvable for trees, interval graphs, and chord...
发表评论
阅读全文

A Review of Technical Requirements for High Penetration of Wind Power Systems

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52361#.VJN8VcCAM4 Author(s)    Yuan-Kang Wu 1 , Tung-Ching Lee 2 , Ting-Yen Hsieh 2 , Wei-Min Lin 2 Affiliation(s) 1 Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chung-Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan . 2 Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan . ABSTRACT Renewable portfolio targets have been established in many regions around the world. Regional targets such as 20% renewable energy by year 2020 are not uncommon. As the levels of wind power penetration increase, there are many power system impacts. This work investigated possible challenges and technic...
发表评论
阅读全文