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Antimicrobial activity screening of Camellia japonica flowers (var. Conde de la Torre)
1 , 2, 3 , 3 , 3 , 4 , 4 , 3, 5 , 1 , 4, 6 , 7 , * 1 , * 1, 5
1  Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo - Ourense Campus, Ourense, Spain
2  REQUIMTE/LAQV, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Rua Dr António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal;
3  Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo, Ourense Campus, E32004 Ourense, Spain
4  Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University of Vigo, Ourense Campus, E32004 Ourense, Spain;
5  Centro de Investigação de Montanha (CIMO), Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolonia, 5300-253 Bragança, Portugal
6  International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-products Processing, Jiangsu Uni-versity, Zhenjiang, China
7  REQUIMTE/LAQV, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Rua Dr António Bernardino de Almeida 431, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal
Academic Editor: Marc Maresca

Abstract:

The increased resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to a wide range of antibiotics has driven recent research efforts towards exploring and developing effective preservatives with better potential and new strategies to prevent this multi-resistance. Many of these studies have been on natural matrices such as plants (1). This is in line with consumers demand for more organic and natural products. A possible alternative could be using bioactive compounds from Camellia japonica flowers as bio-preservatives since they have been traditionally used in cosmetic products due to their biological properties (2). Among the bioactive molecules of camellias, it is worth highlighting phenolic compounds, anthocyanins, polysaccharides, polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids and pigments (3). However, to incorporate these bioactive molecules into products with antimicrobial purposes, it is necessary to conduct an extraction and purification of the target compounds. Thus, in this study, the antimicrobial activity of one variety of C. japonica flowers (var. Conde de la Torre) obtained by an easy and profitable extraction technique such as maceration has been analyzed. Results from this work showed that the variety under study have a significant antimicrobial activity in terms of inhibition zones against Staphylococcus epidermidis (14.02 mm) Staphylococcus aureus (10.84 mm), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (10.36 mm), Salmonella enteritidis (7.98 mm), and Bacillus cereus (5.05 mm). However, the var. Conde de la Torre of C. japonica did not show significant activity against Escherichia coli. In conclusion, Conde de la Torre can be used as a potential antimicrobial agent. However, more studies that determinates the compounds responsible of these bioactivities are needed.

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