Carnosic acid (CA) is found in Salvia officinalis L.、Rosmarinus Officinalis L.、S. triloba L. and Clary Sage(That is the Salvia sclarea, S. sclarea L.) and other plants, is the main antioxidant component of Rosemary and Salvia, is a phenolic diterpenoid. The appearance of carnosic acid is colorless to pale yellow powder crystal. Soluble in oil, insoluble in water, with high efficiency, safety, high temperature, and other characteristics.
As an important natural compound, carnosic acid can be obtained by organic solvent extraction method, homogenization extraction method, ultrasonic-assisted extraction method, supercritical carbon dioxide extraction method, inorganic alkali liquid extraction method, and superheated water extraction method; The method of column chromatography, pH-controlled precipitation method, solvent recrystallization and several methods are used for purification.
This article reviews the biological activities of carnosic acid against oxidation, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antitumor, and central nervous system effects.
Antioxidant Activity
The most studied biological activity of carnosic acid is its antioxidant activity. The anti-oxidation value, the thiobarbituric acid value, the free fatty acid content and the anisidine value were periodically measured under accelerated oxidative storage conditions to compare the antioxidant effects of carnosic acid and synthetic antioxidants to sunflower seed oil lipids. Experiments found that: with the increase in the concentration of carnosic acid, its antioxidant effect on sunflower oil lipids was significantly enhanced, and showed a better than the synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butyl hydroxyanisole (BHA) Stronger Antioxidant Activity. Du et al. indicated that the antioxidant capacity index of carnosic acid was 3 times than BHT and VE, but lower than BHA.
Wang et al. compared the effects of carnosic acid and common antioxidants BHT and VE on the oxidative stability of squalene under heat or UV irradiation. The results showed that carnosic acid under the heated 、UV-A or UV-B irradiation,It is more effective in inhibiting the oxidation of squalene, and the antioxidant activity of carnosic acid is stronger than that of BHT and VE. By comparing the effects of different concentrations of carnosic acid and synthetic antioxidants on the oxidative stability of fish oil in fish oil storage, it was found The antioxidant activity of carnosic acid is stronger than VE, but still weaker than tert-butyl hydroquinone (TBHQ); the antioxidant effect of carnosic acid on fish oil is dose-dependent, and The antioxidant stability of fish oil increased with the increase of carnosic acid, and the squalene or fish oil supplemented with 0.2 ‰ carnosic acid showed good antioxidant effect and could effectively avoid oxidation.
Ying et al. compared the effects of different concentrations of carnosic acid on the color of fresh pork. The experiment found that the antioxidant effect of carnosic acid with a mass fraction of 5% was better than that of carnosic acid with a mass fraction of 20%. To a large extent, it delays the discoloration of meat and the oxidation of fat and protein. In addition to the concentration affects the antioxidant effect of carnosic acid, temperature also affects it. At 60 °C, carnosic acid inhibited the primary and secondary oxidation products of virgin olive oil in a dose-dependent manner, and enhanced the activity of scavenging free radicals in a dose-dependent manner. However, there was no oxidation protection against lipids at 180 °C. The role of free radical scavenging activity is almost zero.
Antibacterial Activity
Rozman and Wagner found that carnosic acid in rosemary leaf extract has antibacterial activity against different species of Listeria monocytogenes, Streptococcus mutants which causes dental caries, Streptococcus coccus, Streptococcus salaries and the like. Yuan et al. research the activity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in rosemary with carnosic acid, The isolated and refined the content of carnosic acid with 98.6%, which indicated the indicator strain MRSA ATCC33592 and clinical separation strains MRSA01~08 and the minimum inhibitory concentration of ranged from 8 to 16 ug/mL , and the minimum bactericidal concentration was 32 ug/mL. When combined with Oxacillin sodium or Ampicillin sodium, it showed additive or synergistic effect against MRSA. Adriana et al believe that carnosic acid can enhance the antibacterial activity of certain antibiotics. By studying its mechanism, carnosic acid will be a good combination therapy for the treatment of drug-resistant Enterococcus and Staphylococcus aureus infection.
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