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. 2019 Dec 19;9(1):5.
doi: 10.3390/foods9010005.

Wild Italian Prunus spinosa L. Fruit Exerts In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity and Protects Against In Vitro and In Vivo Oxidative Stress

Luisa Pozzo  1 , Rossella Russo  1 , Stefania Frassinetti  1 , Francesco Vizzarri  2   3 , Július Árvay  4 , Andrea Vornoli  1   5 , Donato Casamassima  2 , Marisa Palazzo  2 , Clara Maria Della Croce  1 , Vincenzo Longo  1
Affiliations

Wild Italian Prunus spinosa L. Fruit Exerts In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity and Protects Against In Vitro and In Vivo Oxidative Stress

Luisa Pozzo et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Polyphenol-rich foods could have a pivotal function in the prevention of oxidative stress-based pathologies and antibacterial action. The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial activity, as well as the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant capacities of wild Prunus spinosa L. fruit (PSF) from the southeast regions of Italy. The total phenolic content (TPC) was quantified, and the single polyphenols were analyzed by HPLC-DAD, showing high rutin and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid levels, followed by gallic and trans-sinapic acids. PSF extract demonstrated antimicrobial activity against some potentially pathogenic Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Besides, we investigated the cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) and the hemolysis inhibition of PSF extract on human erythrocytes, evidencing both a good antioxidant power and a marked hemolysis inhibition. Furthermore, an in vivo experiment with oxidative stress-induced rats treated with a high-fat diet (HFD) and a low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) demonstrated that PSF has a dose-dependent antioxidant capacity both in liver and in brain. In conclusion, the wild Italian Prunus spinosa L. fruit could be considered a potentially useful material for both nutraceutical and food industries because of its antioxidant and antimicrobial effects.

Keywords: antimicrobial; antioxidant; blackthorn; phenolic compounds; wild Italian Prunus spinosa L. fruit.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design of the In Vivo experiment. CTR, control group; HFD, high-fat diet group; PSF400, PSF800.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Growth inhibition effect of PSF extract (0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 mg/mL) against Gram-negative bacteria (A) (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Salmonella enterica ser. typhimurium ATCC 14028, and Enterobacter aerogenes ATCC 13048) and Gram-positive bacteria (B) (Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923). Significantly different from negative control (PSF 0 mg/mL): *** p ≤ 0.001. Results are reported as means (n = 3) values ± standard deviation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A) Effects of PSF extract (100 mg/mL) on cellular antioxidant activity (CAA) in human erythrocytes. Significantly different from untreated cells (CAA unit = 0): *** p ≤ 0.001. (B) Effects of PSF extract (100 mg/mL) on dihydrochloride (AAPH)-induced oxidative hemolysis in human erythrocytes. Significantly different from CTR (AAPH-treated cells): *** p ≤ 0.001. Trolox was used as reference standard. Results are reported as means (n = 3) values ± standard deviation.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of PSF treatment at two different concentrations (PSF400 and PSF800) on GSH content of liver (A) and brain (B), protein carbonylation of liver (C) and brain (D), and malondyaldeide of liver (E) and brain (F). Results are reported as means (n = 7) values ± standard deviation. Values within each row of different letters are significantly different (p ≤ 0.05), p ≤ 0.05 vs. CTR; **, p ≤ 0.001 vs. CTR; ●●, p ≤ 0.01 vs. HFD; ●●●, p ≤ 0.001 vs. HFD.
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