Lactic acid fermentation as a tool to enhance the antioxidant properties of Myrtus communis berries

Table 1 In vitro antioxidant activity

	DPPH radical scavenging activity (%)*	Lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity (%)*	Radical cation ABTS ⁺ scavenging activity (mM Trolox equiv.)
BHT	76 ± 1^b	55 ± 2^b	nd
Mct	60 ± 2^c	52 ± 3^b	26.6 ± 0.1^b
Mf	81 ± 3^a	84 ± 3^a	56.6 ± 0.2^a

Radical scavenging activity towards DPPH^•, linoleic acid peroxidation inhibitory activity, and radical cation ABTS⁺ scavenging activity of the myrtle homogenate fermented for 48 h at 30°C with Lactobacillus plantarum C2 (Mf). The chemically acidified myrtle homogenate, without bacterial inoculum, and incubated for 48 h at 30°C (Mct), was the control. Butylatedhydroxytoluene (BHT) was used as antioxidant reference.
Data are the mean of three independent analyses.
Nd: not determined.
*determined on methanol extracts (ME).
^a-cValues with different superscript letters, in the same column, differ significantly (P < 0.05).

ISSN: 1475-2859