Antioxidant and antibacterial properties of Saffron leaves *Ali Rismanbaf1, Ali Ebrahimi Pure2, Sepideh Noori3
[email protected] Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran – Iran (IAUPS) 2
Department of Food Sciences & Technology, Faculty of Advanced Sciences & Technology, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran-Iran (IAUPS)
Introduction
Results and Discussion
Saffron has been used as a flavoring agent in foods since about 3000 years ago. This expensive food ingredient is obtained from
Total phenolic compounds of aqueous and ethanol extracts were measured 339 and 56 ppm gAE (gallic acid equivalent) respec-
Crocus Sativus L. (A genus from Iridaceae family with purple flowers). the most usage of Saffron is food flavoring and coloring, but
tively. Antioxidant evaluation indicated high free-radical inhibition capacity of extracts. 0.02% of aqueous extract could inhibit
it can also be used in therapeutic manners and meditating some health disorders following gastric illnesses such as Ulcer and
DPPH by 99%. No antibacterial activity observed from either of extracts on tested bacteria; but According to the high antioxi-
digestive disorders and being useful as a beneficial anticancer agent as well. Saffron was also studied in cardiovascular related
dant properties, low toxicity and low price of saffron flowers, this agent can be used to increase the efficiency of other antimi-
disorders, Insulin resistance, depression, premenstrual syndrome, anxiety and insomnia. After discharging saffron stigmas, the
crobial compounds.
flowers’ leaves are usually thrown useless. In this study we have evaluated the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of ethanol and aqueous extracts of saffron flower (Figure 1) leaves.
Figure 2_ ppm galic acid
Figure 1_ Saffron Flower
Figure 3_ ppm ascorbic acid
Conclusion Considering the high antioxidant activity and phenolic content, saffron flower leaves can be a potential and cheap source of phenolics and this agent can be a candidate to be used as a preservative substance in foods and drugs with other routine preservatives.
Materials and Methods
Key words: Saffron, Antioxidant, antibacterial, DPPH
Maceration method was used to prepare extracts; ratio of solvent to dry herbal material was 2:1. Folin-Ciocalteu assay was applied to evaluate total phenolic contents of samples; Free radical scavenging activity was evaluated using 2,2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl. Disk diffusion method was performed to measure inhibitory activity against testing bacteria.
References John P. Melnyk, Sunan Wang, Massimo F. Marcone, Chemical and biological properties of the world’s most expensive spice: Saffron, Food Research International 2010:43, 1981-1989
