Comparative Amino Acid Profile and Antioxidant Activity in Sixteen Plant Extracts from Transylvania, Romania

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 11; p. 2183
• Main Authors: Iordache, Andreea Maria, Nechita, Constantin, Podea, Paula, Șuvar, Niculina Sonia, Mesaroṣ, Cornelia, Voica, Cezara, Bleiziffer, Ramona, Culea, Monica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 31-05-2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Additives; Amino acids; Analysis; Anticancer properties; antioxidant activity; Antioxidants; Aspartate; Aspartic acid; Biological products; Biosynthesis; Comparative analysis; Composition; Environmental aspects; Enzymes; Experimental methods; Flowers & plants; Food; food antioxidant supplementation; Food industry; Food processing; Food processing industry; Free radicals; Identification and classification; Inflammation; Investigations; Literature reviews; Materia medica, Vegetable; Measurement; Medicinal plants; Metabolism; Metabolites; Nitrogen; Nutrition; Pharmaceutical industry; Physiological aspects; Plant extracts; Plant species; plants; Processing industry; Proline; Rankings; Scavenging; Side effects; synergy; Romania; food antioxidant supplementation; synergy; antioxidant activity; plants; amino acids
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants12112183

In addition to the naturopathic medicines based on the antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, or antioxidant properties of plant extracts that have been capitalized upon through the pharmaceutical industry, the increasing interest of the food industry in this area requires potent new materials capable of supporting this market. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro amino acid contents and antioxidant activities of ethanolic extracts from sixteen plants. Our results show high accumulated amino acid contents, mainly of proline, glutamic, and aspartic acid. The most consistent values of essential amino acids were isolated from
,
,
,
, and
. The results of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-pycrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay indicate that
was the most potent antioxidant, followed by four other extracts (in decreasing order):
,
,
.
, and
. The network and principal component analyses found four natural groupings between samples based on DPPH free radical scavenging activity content. Each plant extracts' antioxidant action was discussed based on similar results found in the literature, and a lower capacity was observed for most species. An overall ranking of the analyzed plant species can be accomplished due to the range of experimental methods. The literature review revealed that these natural antioxidants represent the best side-effect-free alternatives to synthetic additives, especially in the food processing industry.