Antioxidant Activity, Metal Chelating Ability and DNA Protective Effect of the Hydroethanolic Extracts of <i>Crocus sativus</i> Stigmas, Tepals and Leaves

oleh: Sabir Ouahhoud, Amine Khoulati, Salma Kadda, Noureddine Bencheikh, Samira Mamri, Anas Ziani, Sanae Baddaoui, Fatima-Ezzahra Eddabbeh, Iliass Lahmass, Redouane Benabbes, Mohamed Addi, Christophe Hano, Abdeslam Asehraou, Ennouamane Saalaoui

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-05-01

Deskripsi

The present study investigated the antioxidant activity, metal chelating ability and genoprotective effect of the hydroethanolic extracts of <i>Crocus sativus</i> stigmas (STG), tepals (TPL) and leaves (LV). We evaluated the antioxidant and metal (Fe<sup>2+</sup> and Cu<sup>2+</sup>) chelating activities of the stigmas, tepals and leaves of <i>C. sativus</i>. Similarly, we examined the genotoxic and DNA protective effect of these parts on rat leukocytes by comet assay. The results showed that TPL contains the best polyphenol content (64.66 µg GA eq/mg extract). The highest radical scavenging activity is shown by the TPL (DPPH radical scavenging activity: IC<sub>50</sub> = 80.73 µg/mL). The same extracts gave a better ferric reducing power at a dose of 50 µg/mL, and better protective activity against β-carotene degradation (39.31% of oxidized β-carotene at a 100 µg/mL dose). In addition, they showed a good chelating ability of Fe<sup>2+</sup> (48.7% at a 500 µg/mL dose) and Cu<sup>2+</sup> (85.02% at a dose of 500 µg/mL). Thus, the antioxidant activity and metal chelating ability in the <i>C. sativus</i> plant is important, and it varies according to the part and dose used. In addition, pretreatment with STG, TPL and LV significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.001) protected rat leukocytes against the elevation of percent DNA in the tail, tail length and tail moment in streptozotocin- and alloxan-induced DNA damage. These results suggest that <i>C. sativus</i> by-products contain natural antioxidant, metal chelating and DNA protective compounds, which are capable of reducing the risk of cancer and other diseases associated with daily exposure to genotoxic xenobiotics.