Active components of the plant are believed to be polyphenols, including flavonoids, A-type proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins, coumarins, and phenolic acids, forming unique and diversified profiles in particular organs, among which the flowers are the least (Owczarek et al., 2017).
This work is the first comprehensive phytochemical and activity study of the flower extracts of P. spinosa. (Phenolic compounds of blackthorn (Prunus spinosa L.) and influence of in digestion on their capacity. Available from Phytochemical analysis allowed detecting flavonoids, coumarins, phenolic acids and flavan-3-ols. Ethanolic extract of branches was subjected to an in vitro digestion.The contents of phenolics, flavonoids and anthocyanins …show more content…
Apart from phytotherapy, blackthorn is also used in food industry for the production of jams and various beverages: liqueur, wine, juice, compote and tea.
Fresh fruit extracts are an excellent source of polyphenolic compounds, as free radicals scavengers, which can significantly alleviate the negative effect of free radicals in the organism. Therefore, they have an important role in the prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
The content of flavonoids in the flowers of Romanian blackthorn population (1.16% of total flavone aglycones – quercetin) is the only well-established value. It is known that flowers and leaves of blackthorn contain complex of flavonoids, derivatives of flavonol: kaempferol, quercetin and their glycosides with arabinose, rhamnose and xylose. Apart from flavonoids, the flowers of blackthorn contain A-type proanthocyanidins and phenolic acids The total flavonoid contents were determined using the spectrophotmetric method based on the formation of yellow flavonoid complex with aluminum the absorbance was measured at 420 …show more content…
A perusal of the literature reveled that only fragmentary information was available on this plant species regarding pharmacognosy, phytochemistry and pharmacological activity by any other researchers. This study was designed first time for the identification, screening of pharmacological activities and isolation of unexplored compound inorder to establish its folklore claims. Plants are becoming potential source for phytoconstituents with varied pharmacological activities. Identification of such plants of potential use in medicine is of significance and as a prelude to this, it becomes necessary to examine the various pharmacognostical characters of the plant before further investigation. In pharmacognostical studies the macroscopy, microscopy, histochemical studies, physico-chemical constants and inorganic mineral analysis were carried out. Pharmacognostical standards obtained during the observation are valuable tools for the identification of the plant