Natural Product Research

Formerly Natural Product Letters

ISSN: 1478-6419 (Print) 1478-6427 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gnpl20

Αntioxidant activity of Cynara scolymus L. and

Cynara cardunculus L. extracts obtained by
different extraction techniques

Eleni Kollia, Panagiota Markaki, Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis & Charalampos

Proestos

To cite this article: Eleni Kollia, Panagiota Markaki, Panagiotis Zoumpoulakis & Charalampos
Proestos (2016): Αntioxidant activity of Cynara scolymus L. and Cynara cardunculus L.
extracts obtained by different extraction techniques, Natural Product Research, DOI:
10.1080/14786419.2016.1219864

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2016.1219864

View supplementary material

Published online: 11 Aug 2016.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=gnpl20

Download by: [Nanyang Technological University] Date: 12 August 2016, At: 04:03
Natural Product Research, 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2016.1219864

SHORT COMMUNICATION

Αntioxidant activity of Cynara scolymus L. and Cynara

cardunculus L. extracts obtained by different extraction
techniques
Eleni Kolliaa, Panagiota Markakia, Panagiotis Zoumpoulakisb and
Charalampos Proestosa 
a
Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Athens, Greece; bInstitute of Biology, Medicinal Chemistry and Biotechnology, National Hellenic Research
Foundation, Athens, Greece

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Extracts of different parts (heads, bracts and stems) of Cynara Received 3 December 2015
cardunculus L. (cardoon) and Cynara scolymus L. (globe artichoke), Accepted 10 July 2016
obtained by two different extraction techniques (Ultrasound-Assisted
KEYWORDS
Extraction (UAE) and classical extraction (CE)) were examined and Artichoke; cardoon;
compared for their total phenolic content (TPC) and their antioxidant antioxidant activity; total
activity. Moreover, infusions of the plant’s parts were also analysed phenolic content
and compared to aforementioned samples. Results showed that
cardoon’s heads extract (obtained by Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction)
displayed the highest TPC values (1.57  mg Gallic Acid Equivalents
(GAE) g−1 fresh weight (fw)), the highest DPPH• scavenging activity
(IC50; 0.91  mg  ml−1) and the highest ABTS•+ radical scavenging
capacity (2.08  mg Trolox Equivalents (TE) g−1 fw) compared to
infusions and other extracts studied. Moreover, Ultrasound-Assisted
Extraction technique proved to be more appropriate and effective for
the extraction of antiradical and phenolic compounds.

CONTACT  Charalampos Proestos  harpro@chem.uoa.gr

 Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786419.2016.1219864.
© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2    E. Kollia et al.

1. Introduction
Cynara is a genus belonging to the Asteraceae (sunflower) family; it comprises of many
species native to the Mediterranean basin which includes the wild artichoke (cardoon) Cynara
cardunculus L. and the cultivated globe artichoke Cynara scolymus L. (Lanteri & Portis 2008).
C. cardunculus L. and C. scolymus L. are edible vegetable widely consumed in the Mediterranean
diet (Coinu et al. 2007) and the parts that usually consumed are mostly the heads of the
plant (inner part of the flower).
Many studies have demonstrated that artichoke has major medicinal properties, including
antioxidative, anticarcinogenic, antigenotoxic, cholesterol-lowering, hepatoprotective,
bile-expelling, diuretic and anti-inflammatory, as well as antifungal, anti-HIV and antibacterial
effects (Agarwal & Mukhtar 1996; Gebhardt 1997; Miadokova et al. 2008). Nutritional and
pharmaceutical properties of artichoke are linked to their special chemical composition,
which includes high levels of polyphenolic compounds and inulin. Caffeic acid derivatives
are the main phenolic compounds in artichoke. Other phenolics such as the flavonoids,
apigenin and luteolin as well as different cyanidin caffeoylglucoside derivatives and chloro-
genic acid have been identified in artichoke tissues while recently apigenin-7-rutinoside
and narirutin, were found to be unique to artichoke heads (Panizzi et al. 1955), Wang et al.
2003; Zhu et al. 2004; Lattanzio et al. 2009). It is also reported that artichokes contain cynarin
(Panizzi & Scarpati 1955 and are rich in fibre and low in fat. Hence its health benefits regard
high fibre content (Emanuel et al. 2011).
The aim of this work was to study and compare the antioxidant activity of the extracts of
the different parts (heads, bracts, stems) of globe and wild artichoke (cardoon) by applying
different extraction techniques (Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction, Classical Extraction).
Infusions were also prepared and compared to aforementioned extracts.

2.  Results and discussion

2.1.  Total phenolic content
Results from Folin–Ciocalteu assay showed that between the three different extraction tech-
niques there is significant difference (p < 0.05) as far as the TPCs of globe artichoke and
cardoon is concerned. Specifically the ultrasound-assisted extraction technique, seems to
be more effective for the extraction of the phenolic compounds (p < 0.05). Moreover, heads
of globe artichoke and cardoon contained higher amounts of TPC compared to bracts and
stems. Finally between the two plants, cardoon (C. cardunculus L.) had considerably higher
amounts of TPC (p < 0.05) (Table 1).

2.2.  Antioxidant activity

Antioxidant activity of artichokes’ extracts was determined by DPPH and TEAC assays.
DPPH assay: Statistical analysis of the radical scavenging activity (RSA) values of both
kinds of artichoke extracts; showed again that the UAE seems to be better extraction tech-
nique compared to CE and infusions. Furthermore, there is no significant difference between
the RSA of the extracts of artichoke and cardoon different parts. Considering the overall
results, cardoon’s heads extract, obtained by UAE technique, exhibited the higher RSA (lowest
IC50) compared to all the other extracts (Table 2). TEAC assay: Statistical analysis showed that
 Natural Product Research   3

Table 1.  TPC values of cardoon and globe artichoke extracts (heads, bracts, stems) from different
extraction techniques (UAE: Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction, CE: Classical Extraction and HI: Herbal Infusion).
Cardoon Globe artichoke
Heads Bracts Stems Heads Bracts Stems
UAE 1.57 ± 0.01a1 1.45 ± 0.01b1 0.87 ± 0.01c1 0.49 ± 0.03d1 0.41 ± 0.01e1 0.33 ± 0.01f1
CE 0.78 ± 0.08a2 0.65 ± 0.04b2 0.26 ± 0.04d3 0.47 ± 0.03c2 0.41 ± 0.05c2 0.37 ± 0.05c,d2
HI 0.67 ± 0.10a2 0.60 ± 0.04a2 0.37 ± 0.05b2 0.45 ± 0.05b3 0.40 ± 0.06b3 0.39 ± 0.04b2
Note: Means in the same row bearing different letters differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Means in the same column bearing different numbers differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Results represent means ± SD (N = 3 separate samples).

Table 2. DPPH assay: IC50 values for cardoon and globe artichoke extracts (heads, bracts, stems) from
different extraction techniques (UAE: Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction, CE: Classical Extraction and
HI: Herbal Infusion).
Cardoon Globe artichoke
Heads Bracts Stems Heads Bracts Stems
UAE 0.91 ± 0.01c1 1.42 ± 0.05a1 1.22 ± 0.02b1 1.18 ± 0.06b1 0.11 ± 0.04b1 1.22 ± 0.06b1
CE 0.93 ± 0.04c1 1.36 ± 0.03a1 1.19 ± 0.01b1 1.17 ± 0.04b1 1.13 ± 0.01b1 1.18 ± 0.02b1,2
HI 1.27 ± 0.03b,c2 1.39 ± 0.01a1 1.24 ± 0.01c1 1.37 ± 0.04d,a1 1.38 ± 0.02d,a2 1.38 ± 0.03a2
Note: Means in the same row bearing different letters differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Means in the same column bearing different numbers differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Results represent means ± SD (N = 3 separate samples).

Table 3. TEAC assay: values expressed as mg TE g−1 FW for cardoon and globe artichoke extracts (heads,
bracts and stems) from different extraction techniques (UAE: Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction, CE: Classi-
cal Extraction and HI: Herbal Infusion).
Cardoon Globe artichoke
Heads Bracts Stems Heads Bracts Stems
UAE 2.08 ± 0.01a1 1.25 ± 0.21b1 1.03 ± 0.01b2 1.22 ± 0.14b1 0.66 ± 0.10c1 0.52 ± 0.14c1
CE 1.70 ± 0.01a2 1.20 ± 0.01c1 1.37 ± 0.02b1 1.09 ± 0.06d1 0.74 ± 0.06e1 0.64 ± 0.04f1
HI 1.36 ± 0.16a3 0.81 ± 0.02c,b2 0.68 ± 0.02d,c3 1.02 ± 0.19b1 0.40 ± 0.06e,d2 0.32 ± 0.02e2
Note: Means in the same row bearing different letters differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Means in the same column bearing different numbers differ significantly (p < 0.05).
Results represent means ± SD (N = 3 separate samples).

there are some significant differences (p > 0.05) between the different extraction techniques,
for both species of artichoke. Specifically heads of cardoon showed better results as far as
the concentration of the antiradical compounds is concerned compared to all other extracts
(Table 3).
The above results lead to the conclusion that the extraction techniques (different condi-
tions of temperature/extraction time) exhibited a straight effect on the antioxidant proper-
ties and the TPCs of the extracts. Almost in all cases UAE showed better results, probably
because of the cavitation bubbles that created by the sound waves near the sample tissue
and release cell contents by breaking down the cell walls (Khoddami et al. 2013). In the lit-
erature, differences have been reported concerning the phenolic content and the antioxidant
activity of artichoke species and their organs. (Falleh et al. 2008; Soumaya et al. 2013).
Previously Falleh et al. (2008) observed that the TPC values of C. cardunculus L. leaf were two
times higher than those in heads while Wang et al. (2003) showed that the leaves of
4    E. Kollia et al.

C. scolymus L. contained the highest concentration of total phenols and that the ‘younger’
heads have higher phenol contents than the mature heads. Moreover, a study about the
phenolic content and in vitro antioxidant activity of the bracts, leaves and floral stems of two
Tunisian globe artichoke cultivars revealed that the leaves were associated with more anti-
oxidant activity than the bracts or the floral stems (Dabbou et al. 2015). However, these dif-
ferences are probably due to the different origin, genetic background, climatic/environment
conditions, cultivation conditions and harvest time. However, these differences are probably
due to the different origin, climatic conditions, cultivation conditions and harvest time. In
the present study, cardoon’s heads extract obtained from UAE, showed maximum TPC values
(1.57 mg Gallic Acid Equivalents (GAE) g−1 fresh weight (fw)), the highest DPPH• scavenging
activity (IC50; 0.91 mg ml−1) and the highest ABTS•+ radical scavenging capacity (2.08 mg
Trolox Equivalents (TE) g−1 fw) in comparison with all the other extracts.

3. Conclusion
Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction technique proved to be more appropriate and effective for
the extraction of antiradical and phenolic compounds from the two kinds of artichoke.
Cardoon’s heads UAE extracts displayed significant differences for TPC values (1.57 mg Gallic
Acid Equivalents (GAE) g−1 fresh weight (fw)), DPPH• scavenging activity (IC50; 0.91 mg ml−1)
and ABTS•+ radical scavenging capacity (2.08 mg Trolox Equivalents (TE) g−1 fw) compared
to all other parts of both plants (cardoon and globe artichoke) under CE and HI
techniques.
Certainly more research is needed concerning the chemical characterisation of extracts
and infusion to understand which compounds confer to the antioxidant activity that proved
in the current research.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This work was supported by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens [grant number 11400].

ORCID
Charalampos Proestos   http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3450-5969

References
Agarwal R, Mukhtar H. 1996. Cancer chemoprevention by polyphenols in green tea and artichoke.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 401:35–50.
Coinu R, Carta S, Urgeghe PP, Mulinacci N, Pinelli P, Franconi F, Romani A. 2007. Dose-effect study on
the antioxidant properties of leaves and outer bracts of extracts obtained from Violetto di Toscana
artichoke. Food Chem. 101:524–531.
Dabbou S, Dabbou S, Pandino G, Lombardo S, Mauromicale G, Chahdoura H, Gasco L, Helal AN. 2015.
In vitro antioxidant activities and phenolic content in crop residues of Tunisian globe artichoke.
Sci Hortic. 190:128–136.
 Natural Product Research   5

Emanuel V, Adrian V, Sultana N, Svetlana C. 2011. Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of ethanol
extracts of Cynara scolymus (Cynarae folium, Asteraceae Family). Trop J Pharm Res. 10:777–783.
Falleh H, Ksouri R, Chaieb K, Karray-Bouraoui N, Trabelsi N, Boulaaba M, Abdelly C. 2008. Phenolic
composition of Cynara cardunculus L. organs, and their biological activities. Comptes Rendus
Biologies. 331:372–379.
Gebhardt R. 1997. Antioxidative and protective properties of extracts from leaves of the artichoke
(Cynara scolymus L.) against hydroperoxide-induced oxidative stress in cultured rat hepatocytes.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 144:279–286.
Khoddami A, Wilkes MA, Roberts TH. 2013. Techniques for analysis of plant phenolic compounds.
Molecules. 18:2328–2375.
Lanteri S, Portis E. 2008. Globe artichoke and cardoon. In: Prohens J, Nuez F, editors. Handbook of plant
breeding, vegetables I: Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Chenopodicaceae, and Cucurbitaceae. Abingdon:
Springer; p. 49–74.
Lattanzio V, Kroon PA, Linsalata V, Cardinali A. 2009. Globe artichoke: a functional food and source of
nutraceutical ingredients. J Funct Foods. 1:131–144.
Miadokova E, Nadova S, Vlckova V, Duhova V, Kopaskova M, Cipak L, Rauko P, Mucaji P, Grancai D. 2008.
Antigenotoxic effect of extract from Cynara cardunculus L. Phytother Res. 22:77–81.
Panizzi L, Scarpati ML. 1955. Constitution of cynarine, the active principle of the artichoke. Nature.
174:1062.
Panizzi L, Scarpati ML, Oriente G. 1955. Sintesi dell’acido clorogenico [Synthesis of chlorogenic acid].
Experienta. 11:383–384.
Soumaya K, Chaouachi F, Ksouri R, El Gazzah M. 2013. Polyphenolic composition in different organs of
Tunisia populations of Cynara cardunculus L. and their antioxidant activity. J Food Nutr Res. 1:1–6.
Wang M, Simon JE, Aviles IF, He K, Zheng QY, Tadmor Y. 2003. Analysis of antioxidative phenolic
compounds in artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.). J Agric Food Chem. 51:601–608.
Zhu X, Zhang H, Lo R. 2004. Phenolic compounds from the leaf extract of artichoke (Cynara scolymus
L.) and their antimicrobial activities. J Agric Food Chem. 52:7272–7278.