Biochemical Characterization, Anti-microbial and Anti-cancerous property of Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
Loading...
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SKUAST Kashmir
Abstract
Investigations on “Biochemical Characterisation, anti-microbial and anti-cancerous property of Common Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)” were carried out during 2015-2016, in the Biochemistry Laboratory, Division of Post Harvest Technology, SKUAST-K, Shalimar. P. oleracea collected from open fields of SKUAST-K, Shalimar was used for investigation in this study. The evaluation of biochemical composition of P. oleracea revealed that ash content (5.16±0.145%), carbohydrate (25.1±0.173%), crude protein (19.83±0.145%), crude fat (4.02±0.011%) and crude fiber (7.19±0.017%) of shade-dried P. oleracea were significantly (p<0.01) higher than fresh P. oleracea samples. Likewise, the total sugars (3.56±0.012%), reducing sugars (3.16±0.012%) and non-reducing sugars (0.40±0.023%) of shade-dried P. oleracea were also found to be significantly (p<0.01) higher than fresh P. oleracea samples. It was further observed that as compared to fresh P. oleracea, the shade-dried P. oleracea samples exhibited significantly (p<0.01) higher iron (47.66±0.088 mg/100g), sodium (153.63±0.145 mg/100g), calcium (1366.66±0.120 mg/100g) and magnesium (943.93±0.713 mg/100g) contents. Same trend was also found with respect to bioactive constituents as shade-dried P. oleracea possessed significantly (p<0.01) higher amount of selected bioactive constituents than fresh P. oleracea samples. The total phenol content of dried P. oleracea was found to be 385.96±0.744 mg/100g and total flavonoids to be 98.66±0.120 mg/100g as compared to only 131.46±0.260 mg/100g total phenols and 6.05±0.020 mg/100g total flavonoids found in fresh P. oleracea samples. However, on drying the β-carotene content and ascorbic acid content of P. oleracea got significantly (p<0.01) decreased to 14.63±0.294 mg/100g and 19.60±0.115 mg/100g respectively as compared to 17.04±0.026 mg/100g β-carotene and 23.66±0.120 mg/100g ascorbic acid content found in fresh samples. Total chlorophyll (342.06±0.219 mg/100g) including chlorophyll-a (276.46±0.176 mg/100g) and chlorophyll-b (65.60±0.058 mg/100g) of shade-dried P. oleracea was found to be significantly (p<0.01) higher than fresh P. oleracea samples. The anthocyanin content of shade-dried P. oleracea (881.76±0.088 mg/100g) was found to be higher than that of fresh P. oleracae samples (274.83±0.176 mg/100g). The presence of quercetin flavonoid was observed in both fresh and dried P. oleracea samples, but steroidal diosgenin was absent in both the samples. The results related to anti-microbial effect of P. oleracea indicated that ethanolic extracts of shade-dried P. oleracea samples displayed higher antimicrobial activity against two pathogenic bacteria strains viz; Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli EPEC and against sensitive DH5-α strain. The inhibitory action of P. oleracea extract against these isolates was found to be concentration dependent. The MIC demonstrated by ethanolic extract of P. oleracea was found to 0.7mg/ml for Staphylococcus aureus and 0.6 mg/ml for E. coli EPEC strain. A correlation matrix developed between different variables and bioactive constituents of fresh and dried P. oleracea revealed that there existed a strong positive correlation between them. It was found that higher the total phenol content of extract, equally higher inhibitory action was imparted by it against all the three selected bacteria strains. Further, the results related to anti-cancerous activity of P. oleracea revealed that aqueous extracts of dried samples demonstrated more cytotoxic effects against all the three human cancer cell lines viz; HL-60 cell line (Human promyelocytic leukemia), MOLT-4 cell line (T- lymphoblastic leukemia) and T47-D cell line (Ductal carcinoma of breast). The percent cell viability of three cancer cell lines was inversely proportional to the extract concentration used. From this study it is concluded that P. oleracea in addition to being the rich source of nutrients like carbohydrates, protein, fat, fiber and minerals, exhibit significant anti-microbial and anti-cancerous activity due to the high presence of bioactive constituents.
Description
M.Sc Thesis submitted to SKUAST Kashmir
Keywords
Portulaca oleracea, Nutrients, Total phenols, Anti-microbial activity, Anti-cancerous activity., Post Harvest Technology