Phytochemical and Biological Activity Studies on Nasturtium officinale (Watercress) Microshoot Cultures Grown in RITA® Temporary Immersion Systems

Abstract

The main compounds in both extracts were gluconasturtiin, 4-methoxyglucobrassicin and rutoside, the amounts of which were, respectively, determined as 182.93, 58.86 and 23.24 mg/100 g dry weight (DW) in biomass extracts and 640.94, 23.47 and 7.20 mg/100 g DW in plant herb extracts. The antioxidant potential of all the studied extracts evaluated using CUPRAC (CUPric Reducing Antioxidant Activity), FRAP (Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma), and DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) assays was comparable. The anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts was tested based on the inhibition of 15-lipoxygenase, cyclooxygenase-1, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and phospholipase A2. The results demonstrate significantly higher inhibition of COX-2 for in vitro cultured biomass compared with the herb extracts (75.4 and 41.1%, respectively). Moreover, all the studied extracts showed almost similar antibacterial and antifungal potential. Based on these findings, and due to the fact that the growth of in vitro microshoots is independent of environmental conditions and unaffected by environmental pollution, we propose that biomass that can be rapidly grown in RITA® bioreactors can serve as an alternative source of bioactive compounds with valuable biological properties.

Precursor-Boosted Production of Metabolites in Nasturtium officinale Microshoots Grown in Plantform Bioreactors, and Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Biomass Extracts

“…Adding the precursors at the beginning (day 0) caused a slight decrease in biomass growth. In contrast, the addition of the precursors on day 10 resulted in the following greater biomass increments: Gi = 11.48 for 3.0 mM Phe and Gi = 13.66 for 3.0 mM Trp, which were, respectively 1.4 and 1.6 times more than the corresponding Gi values for C. In our previous study [ 24 ], N. officinale microshoots had been maintained in other TIS bioreactors, namely RITA ® (Vitropic, France). The highest Gi (31.71) was obtained after 20 days of growth, which was 2.3 times higher than the highest results obtained with 3.0 mM Trp ( Table 1 ).…”

“…An UHPLC-DAD-MS/MS analysis of GLSs in N. officinale microshoot cultures grown in a RITA ® bioreactor had also been performed [ 24 ]. Taking into account our previous and present results, the differences in the production of GSLs between the bioreactors used were evident.…”

“…In our previous study [ 24 ] with N. officinale microshoot cultures grown in RITA ® bioreactors, the total amount of flavonoids had also been determined. The highest total flavonoid content obtained in the present study with 3.0 mM Phe (day 0) was 2.4 times higher than in the N. officinale microshoot cultures grown in the RITA ® bioreactors for 20 days ( Table 4 ).…”

“…Our previous study [ 24 ] also determined the total amount of polyphenols for the N.officinale microshoot cultures grown in RITA ® bioreactors. The amounts of polyphenols obtained in the present study were higher than those in the N. officinale microshoot cultures grown in the RITA ® bioreactors for 20 days.…”

Biological Activities of Natural Products

“…Klimek-Szczykutowicz et al [22] established that in vitro culture of Nasturtium officinale maintained in RITA ® bioreactors could be a rich potential source of glucosinolates (gluconasturtiin and 4-methoxyglucobrassicin) and rutoside, famous plant antioxidants. The biomass extracts possess the antioxidant (CUPRAC, FRAP, DPPH assays), antibacterial and antifungal activity comparable with plant herb extracts.…”