Authors: Conforti, F.¹; Statti, G.A.¹; Tundis, R.¹; Bianchi, A.²; Agrimonti, C.²; Sacchetti, G.³; Andreotti, E.³; Menichini, F.¹; Poli, F.⁴

Source: Natural Product Research, Volume 19, Number 3, April 2005 , pp. 295-303(9)

Publisher: Taylor and Francis Ltd

Abstract:

The biovariability of Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John's Wort) grown wild in Calabria and Sardinia (Italy) was reported with the aim to characterize the species through the isolation, detection, and quantitative evaluations of chemical markers (hypericin, quercetin, rutin) by HPLC analysis. Antioxidant activity of the methanolic H. perforatum extracts showed that the Calabrian samples were more active than those from Sardinia. The antibacterial activity evidenced the best performance on the gram positive bacteria with a MIC value of 50µg/mL. Moreover, antifungal activity of all the extracts was also tested which showed interesting results particularly on the phytopathogene fungus P. ultimum . The variability shown by the samples could be attributed to environmental factors such as chemical–physical properties, composition of the soil, geographical coordinate, altitude, and solar exposure. The phytochemical analysis and the biological activity data suggested a possible use of H. perforatum extracts in the alimentary, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical fields.

Keywords: Hypericum perforatum; Hypericin; Rutin; Quercetin; Biological activity

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786410410001715596

Affiliations: 1: Dipartimento di Scienze Farmaceutiche, Università della Calabria, via Pietro Bucci, I-87036 Rende (CS), Italy 2: Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Sezione Genetica e biotecnologia ambientali, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 11/A, I-43100 Parma, Italy 3: Dipartimento delle Risorse Naturali e Culturali, laboratorio Biologia Farmaceutica e Biotrasformazioni, Università di Ferrara, corso Porta Mare 2, I-44100 Ferrara, Italy 4: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, via Irnerio 42, I-40122 Bologna, Italy

Publication date: 2005-04-01

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