Caesalpinia paraguariensis (D. Parodi) Burk. extracts as source of natural food preservatives

SGARIGILA, M.A.; SOBERÓN, J.R.; SAMPIETRO, D.A.; QUIROGA, E.N.; VATTUONE, M.A.

Tucumán - Argentina

Congreso; XXV Annual Scientific Meeting of Tucuman Biology Society; 2008

Tucuman Biology Society (publicado en Bio Cell 33 (2))

Current preservatives have a limited array of action in relation to the used concentrations. C. paraguariensis is a tree known in folkloric medicine because its extracts have vulnerary properties. The aims of this study were to investigate in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, and toxicological aspects of bark extracts (Infusion, Decoction and Tincture) from C. paraguariensis. The content of phenolic compounds (PC) was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method. Antimicrobial activity was tested by agar dilution method against E. coli, St. aureus, Sacch. cereviciae and Sacch. carlsbergensis. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH assay. Brine Shrimp Test was employed for determining LD50 (citotoxicidad). Genotoxicity was determined by “Bacillus subtilis rec- assay”. The extracts showed antimicrobial activity against tested species (40-3.000 µg./ml PC). All extracts showed a good scavenging  activity against DPPH radical at 5 µg./ml PC. The aqueous extracts were not citotoxic nor genotoxic. Tincture was citotoxic    and strongly genotoxic. Consequently, the aqueous extracts can be used as food preservatives.