Differentiation of Medicinal Plants According to Solvents, Processing, Origin, and Season by Means of Multivariate Analysis of Spectroscopic and Liquid Chromatography Data.

Effects of processing and extraction solvents on antioxidant properties and other characteristics were evaluated for ten medicinal plant species originating from two different localities and two production years. A combination of spectroscopic and liquid chromatography techniques possessed data for multivariate statistics. Water, 50% (v/v) ethanol, and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were compared to select the most suitable solvent for the isolation of functional components from the frozen/dried medicinal plants. DMSO and 50% (v/v) ethanol were evaluated as more efficient for phenolic compounds and colorants extraction, while water was more useful for element extraction. Drying and extraction of herbs with 50% (v/v) ethanol was the most appropriate treatment to ensure a high yield of most compounds. The satisfactory differentiation of herbs (61.8-100%) confirmed the significant effect of the processing, geographical, and seasonal factors on target functional component concentrations. Total phenolic and total flavonoid compounds content, total antioxidant activity expressed as TAA, yellowness, chroma, and browning index were identified as the most important markers for medicinal plant differentiation.

Effects of Different Factors on Concentration of Functional Components of Aronia and Saskatoon Berries.

Effects of different factors on the content of phenolics, anthocyanins, antioxidants and colour parameters in two varieties of Aronia and three varieties of Saskatoon berries were evaluated. The berries were extracted by dynamic solvent extraction using three different solvents (water, 50% ethanol (v/v) and dimethyl sulfoxide) and subsequently analysed by ultraviolet visible near infrared spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance followed by chemometric analysis. The results obtained show that, dimethyl sulfoxide was the most appropriate for berries functional components isolation, and among the studied berries, Aronia exhibited the highest contents of phenolics. Besides that, varieties of Aronia melanocarpa Viking and of Amelanchier lamarckii Ballerina were selected as the cultivars with high contents of functional components. Satisfactory differentiation of berries was achieved according to extraction solvent, fruit type, variety and production years. The results obtained reveal that, phytochemical composition of Aronia and Saskatoon berries may vary depending on genotypic factors, climate, growing conditions as well as on extraction method used for their assessment. Sample processing, genotypic and seasonal factors had significant effect on the concentration of naturally occurring compounds in berries.

Pressurized water extraction - the fast and efficient method for isolation of bioactive proteins from Viscum album leaves.

New strategies for the fast, efficient, and environmentally friendly extraction of proteins are required to isolate desired bioactive compounds from a technological point of view. In this study, utilization of the pressurized water extraction (PWE) at low temperature (40 °C) for isolation of mistletoe proteins was investigated. PWE effectiveness, based on protein fingerprints, were compared with those obtained by conventional extractions using 10 mmol L-1 Tris-HCl buffer pH 8.3, 50 mmol L-1 phosphate buffer pH 7, or deionized water. The extracts were precipitated using acetone, trichloroacetic acid (TCA), and 20% (w/v) TCA/acetone and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. PWE was more or equally efficient for isolation of mistletoe proteins than evaluated conventional extraction methods. The proteomic analysis combining mass spectrometry and database searching confirmed the presence of 35 proteins in PWE extracts precipitated by acetone, which was the most compounds identified from all studied extracts. The PWE high extraction power was revealed for multiple viscotoxin isoforms and specific enzymes indispensable for the synthesis of terpenes.