Antioxidant activity and phenolic profile of commercial and wild roots of Fragaria vesca

Fragaria vesca L. (Rosaceae), wild strawberry, is commonly found in forests, slopes and roadsides. Widely spread across Europe, it can be also found in Korea, Japan, North America and Canada [1]. The roots are traditionally used as decoction and infusion to treat cough symptoms, urinary tract infections, haemorrhoids, diarrhoea, and gout, but also for their tonic, stimulant and diuretic properties. Those bioactive properties have been mainly related with the composition in various phenolic compounds such as anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, flavonols, and derivatives of hydroxycinnamic and ellagic acids [2, 3]. As far as we know, there are no reports on the phenolic profile and antioxidant activity of F. vesca roots. In the present study, commercial and wild roots of this species were submitted to different extraction procedures, aqueous (by infusion or decoction) and hydromethanolic, in order to compare their antioxidant potential and to establish the individual phenolic profile of each one. Commercial and wild samples showed similarities in terms of flavan 3-ols (TF3O), with catechin derivatives, mainly procyanidins, as major compounds in both samples. The commercial sample presented ellagic acid glycosides, whereas the wild sample presented flavonols (TF) and dihydroflavonols (taxifolin derivatives). The infusion of wild sample gave the highest content of total phenolic compounds (TPC, 253.42 mg/g, dw) and the highest DPPH scavenging activity, reducing power and lipid peroxidation inhibition (TBARS assay) (EC50= 50.56, 44.78 and 4.76 µg/mL, respectively). The antioxidant capacity (mainly β-carotene bleaching and TBARS assays) observed for the wild sample is correlated with TF3O, TF and TPC. Overall, the antioxidant activity of F. vesca roots could be directly obtained by consumption of infusions/decoctions or by incorporating hydromethanolic extracts in antioxidant formulations for cosmetic, pharmaceutical or food industries.