Phytochemical Screening, Antioxidant Potential, and LC-ESI-MS Profiling of Ephedra alata and Ephedra altissima Seeds Naturally Growing in Tunisia.
Maher MahmoudiFayçal BoughallebSamah MaaloulMahmoud MabroukRaoudha AbdellaouiPublished in: Applied biochemistry and biotechnology (2023)
Most Ephedra species are adapted to arid and desert conditions and are widely used in folk medicine to treat several disorders. The design of the current study was to determine the functional properties of seeds of two Ephedra species (E. alata and E. altissima) naturally growing in Tunisian arid zones by evaluating their mineral contents and bioactive compounds. The flame atomic absorption spectrometry revealed that seeds contained remarkable amounts of sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe). The colorimetric investigation revealed high total polyphenol, flavonoid, and condensed tannin contents. Furthermore, by utilizing high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry method (HPLC-ESI/MS), a total of 11 phenolics were identified and quantified including 7 flavonoid compounds and 4 phenolic acids that were mostly predominated by gallic acid and quercetrin. Results so far have been very encouraging and proved that Ephedra seeds are a valuable source of natural bioactive compounds and minerals which could potentially be used for industrial and pharmaceutical purposes.
Keyphrases
- mass spectrometry
- high performance liquid chromatography
- ms ms
- gas chromatography
- liquid chromatography
- tandem mass spectrometry
- simultaneous determination
- solid phase extraction
- high resolution
- single cell
- capillary electrophoresis
- gold nanoparticles
- high resolution mass spectrometry
- heavy metals
- oxidative stress
- multiple sclerosis
- hydrogen peroxide
- wastewater treatment
- oxide nanoparticles
- sensitive detection
- nitric oxide
- living cells
- anti inflammatory
- climate change
- label free