| Chrysanthemum indicum L., spreading widely in China, is a significant medicinal plant with small yellow flowers. Its aerial parts, such as stems, leaves and flowers (Flos Chrysanthemi indici, capitulum of C. indicum L.) were all considered as traditional folk remedies and regarded as conventional endemic foods.In the present manuscript, herbal pigments from the raw flowers were focused on, at the core of the project was to evaluate if the two pigments were new potential source of natural colorants. Major experiments and results include, among others:In the first way, flavonoids and carotenoids were authenticated as the major phytochroms present in the flowers, but no strongly colored anthocyanins were detected. The second manner was to extract the two tinctorial compounds:lipophilic aliphatic carotenoids and hydrophilic aromatic flavonoids. The yield of dried etheric extracts from starting crude materials was2.15%in dry basis, the yield of dried60%ethanolic extracts was12.72%in dry basis. The third was to quantify the staple pigmented ingredients in the two extracts by dint of HPLC. In etheric extracts, total carotenoids, free β-carotene and total β-carotene were165.51±1.42mg/g-DW,1721.29±7.33and2537.96±11.57μg/g-DW; in60%ethanolic extracts, total flavonoids, free quercetin, total quercetin, free luteolin, total luteolin, free apigenin, total apigenin, free acacetin, total acacetin, linarin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid was490.50±3.64,16.91±0.13,31.05±0.21,5.06±0.01,22.67±0.23,8.5±0.03,23.09±0.11,9.35±0.02,30.71±0.18,107.23±1.01,20.74±1.47mg/g·DW and1420.57±13.18μg/g·DW, respectively. Besides, minor elements were evaluated by FAAS, FAES, and ICP-OES.Prior to the color stability, extracts were expanded to investigate the spectral characteristic using UV-Vis, FS and IR; other basic properties were analyzed by usual methods. The stability of the pigments affe cted by light (quality/quantity), pH, temperature, metal ions, carbohydrate, acids, oxidizer, antioxidant, preservative, and reducing agent were measured. Especialy, Color values and color parameters of model solutions induced by light quality were evaluated; the changes of color values and color differences in the treatment times were in accordance with first-order plot degradation.Aflatoxin residue was estimated by TLC. Pesticide residues were determinted by GC. Unpleasant elements were quantified by FAAS, AFS, and GFAAS. These hygiene tests indicated that the two extracts were healthy. Acute toxicity test exhibited that LD50of the extracts by oral treatment was greater than15g/kg·BW in both female and male SD rats. The observations of acute toxicity test indicated that the extracts were nontoxic in normally use. Genotoxicity was assessed by Ames assay in Salmonella typhimurium strains (TA97, TA98, TA100and TA102) with and without metabolic activation (S9), by bone marrow micronucleus test and sperm abnormality test in ICR mice. The examinations of genotoxicity test showed that the extracts were not genotoxic. Etheric extracts were added to four edible oils (peanut oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, and corn oil) and lards in order to evaluate its antioxidant activity. The experiments of antioxidant activity demonstrated that the extracts could effectively prevent lipid from oxidized fast and it displayed a considerable potential protective action against peroxide formation. The free radical scavenging capacities of60%ethanolic extracts were evaluated using DPPH,·O2-and·OH methods, and the IC50were2.30mg/mL,41.98μg/mL and39.11mg/mL respectively.In the pilot study, it was drafted previous extensive investigation that the fat-soluble terpenoid carotenoids and the water-soluble phenylpropanoid flavonoids from the herbal flowers were morishita vegetable products and testified to be safety also show many beneficial biological and nutritional effects. |
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