Antioxidant potential of Agrobacterium-transformed and non-transformed Physalis ixocarpa plants grown in vitro and ex vitro.

BACKGROUND

Oxidative stress is involved in pathogenesis of a number of chronic diseases hence is an increasing interest in plant-derived natural antioxidants with respect to their potential health benefits. Plants from the genus Physalis are particularly rich in secondary metabolites and show significant antioxidant potential. Recent development in transgenic research has opened new possibilities for enhanced production of secondary metabolites with plant cell and organ cultures. The hairy root-regenerated Physalis ixocarpa plants grown in vitro and ex vitro were compared to the non-transformed plants with respect to their antioxidant potential.

METHODS

The total antioxidant capacity (TAC), the contents of total phenols and ascorbate were evaluated in fruits, flowers, leaves and roots of P. ixocarpa using the ferric reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP), the Folin-Ciocalteu method and the 2,2'-dipyridyl method, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The antioxidant profiles, in terms of TAC, ascorbate and phenols were organ-specific and depended on the culture conditions. Neither the total phenol content nor the ascorbate level appeared to determine the TAC of the studied plant extracts. The aqueous extracts exhibited lower antioxidant activities than the acetone ones indicating that lipophilic antioxidants made a major contribution to TAC of the plant tissues. Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation changed the antioxidant status with respect to TAC, phenols and ascorbate and this effect was observed in the plants grown in vitro and ex vitro.