Antioxidant Potential of Pine Needles: A Systematic Study on the Essential Oils and Extracts of 46 Species of the Genus <i>Pinus</i>
Aikaterini Koutsaviti,
Samer Toutoungy,
Rouba Saliba,
Sofia Loupassaki,
Olga Tzakou,
Vassilios Roussis,
Efstathia Ioannou
Affiliations
Aikaterini Koutsaviti
Section of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Samer Toutoungy
Department of Food Quality and Chemistry of Natural Products, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania—Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes, 73100 Chania, Greece
Rouba Saliba
Department of Food Quality and Chemistry of Natural Products, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania—Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes, 73100 Chania, Greece
Sofia Loupassaki
Department of Food Quality and Chemistry of Natural Products, Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania—Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes, 73100 Chania, Greece
Olga Tzakou
Section of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Vassilios Roussis
Section of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
Efstathia Ioannou
Section of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Department of Pharmacy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zografou, 15771 Athens, Greece
The antioxidant activity of the essential oils, as well as of the organic and hydroethanolic extracts, of the fresh needles of 54 pine taxa was evaluated using the peroxy-oxalate and luminol chemiluminescence assays. Among all evaluated essential oils, P. canariensis and P. attenuata displayed the highest levels of activity. P. contorta var. murrayana, followed by P. nigra var. caramanica, exhibited the highest antioxidant capacity among the organic extracts, while the most active hydroethanolic extract was that of P. nigra subsp. nigra. Based on the overall levels of activity, the latter taxon was selected for phytochemical analysis targeting the isolation of the bioactive constituents. As such, the organic extract of P. nigra subsp. nigra was subjected to chromatographic separations to yield 11 secondary metabolites (1−11) that were evaluated for their antioxidant activity. Nonetheless, the isolated compounds were found to be less active than the crude extract, thus suggesting the potential role of synergism.
