Flavonoids from Roses (Rosa damascena) can inhibit activities of enzymes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis and blood pressure
5 Jan 2010
Juan Valverde
Garden roses are not common in Europe in the food shelves on the supermarket. Although it is more used in South America and Asia (Korea and Japan), for flavouring or infused in teas.
Recently a Korean research group has isolated a new flavonoid: roxyloside A (kaempferol-3-O-beta-glucopiranosy1 (1-4)-beta-D-xylopyranoside). This Flavonoid was isolated along with other four known compounds, isoquercitrin, afzelin, cyanidin-3-O-beta-glucoside and quercetin gentiobioside.
All the isolated compounds except for cyanidin-3-O-beta-glucoside exhibited high levels of inhibitory activity against 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase with an IC50 values ranging from 47.1 to 80.6 μM. However, cyanidin-3-O-beta-glucoside significantly suppressed angiotensinI-converting enzyme (ACE) activity, with an IC50 value of 138.8 μM, while the other four compounds were ineffective. These results indicate that R damascena and its flavonoids may be effective to improve the cardiovascular system.
Interestingly, cyanidin-3-O-beta-glucoside is a flavonoid present in many foods such as red and blue fruits (berries) and also in red onions. Therefore this could indicate that this compound might have an important role in the health promoting activities of this foods.
Direct link to this paper at:
