biochemical, antioxidant and antineoplastic properties of italian saffron (crocus sativus l.)意大利藏红花的生化、抗氧化和抗肿瘤的性质(番红花l .).pdfVIP

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2012, 3, 1573-1580 1573 /10.4236/ajps.2012.311190 Published Online November 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ajps) Biochemical, Antioxidant and Antineoplastic Properties of Italian Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) * Angelo Gismondi, Mariagiovanna Serio, Lorena Canuti, Antonella Canini Department of Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Roma, Italy. * Email: canini@uniroma2.it Received August 9th, 2012; revised September 18th, 2012; accepted October 19th, 2012 ABSTRACT Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is got by Crocus sativus L. stigmas. The production of this substance has attracted human interest, since ancient cultures, for its medicinal and culinary properties. Because of saffron high eco- nomic value, sometimes, since Middle Ages, it is adulterated with other vegetal materials, dyes or synthetic molecules. Object of this work was the study of one of the best world saffron: Civitaretenga (AQ, Central Italy) C. sativus. Taste, color and aroma of Civitaretenga spice were determined, according to international standards (ISO/Technical Specifica- tion 3632), to define its high quality. A biochemical approach was then applied to obtain a secondary metabolite profile of this product. So, crocins, total phenolic content, flavonoids and phenolic acids were detected by HPLC-DAD and spectrophotometric analysis. Moreover, in vitro antioxidant properties and in vivo antineoplastic effects, on highly me- tastatic murine B16-F10 melanoma cell line, were successfully revealed in Civitaretenga C. sativus extract. All these data confirmed the elevated quality of Civitaretenga saffron and its highly reducing and chemopreventive activity. Keywords: Crocus sativus L.; Saffron; Plant Secondary Metabolites