Letters in Drug Design & Discovery Send Orders for Reprints to reprints@benthamscience.net 48 Letters in Drug Design & Discovery, 2020, 17, 48-56 RESEARCH ARTICLE Antimicrobial Activity, Antioxidant Properties and Phytochemical Screening of Aesculus hippocastanum Mother Tincture against Food-borne Bacteria Maria Grazia Bonomo 1,* , Caterina Cafaro 1 , Daniela Russo 1 , Luana Calabrone 1 , Luigi Milella 1 , Carmela Saturnino 1 , Anna Capasso 2 and Giovanni Salzano 1 1 Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy; 2 Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Salerno - Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy Abstract: Background: The advantageous health effects of extracts from different types of plants have been known for centuries and the search for new natural extracts is very important at present. Methods: In this study, the antioxidant and the antimicrobial activities of Aesculus hippocastanum mother tincture (TM) against a range of foodborne bacteria were investigated to determine the major components and the action spectrum and the antimicrobial efficacy of the extract. Results: Results demonstrated a high antioxidant ability; total polyphenolic content was 506.8 ± 15.2mg GAE/100ml and the highest content was found for flavonoids. Moreover, TM demonstrated the antimicrobial activity against all tested bacteria and all Gram-negative bacteria were sensitive with an high antimicrobial activity. The inhibitory activity showed a moderate effect on the growth of 72.7% of strains in presence of different extract MIC. Conclusion: The synergistic actions of bioactive compounds detected in the TM might be on the basis of the antioxidant and biological activities observed. These results can be applied in the pharmaceutical field and also in food preservation, alternative medicine and natural therapies. A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y Received: June 5, 2018 Revised: October 16, 2018 Accepted: November 2, 2018 DOI: 10.2174/1570180816666181108114115  Keywords: Aesculus hippocastanum mother tincture, polyphenols content, flavonoids content, tannins content, antimicrobial activity, MIC, antioxidant properties. 1. INTRODUCTION Extracts of plants have been used for a wide variety for many thousands of years. These purposes vary from the use in perfumery to flavouring drinks and the application for food preservation. In particular, the antimicrobial activity of these extracts is the basis of different applications, such as food preservation, pharmaceuticals, alternative medicine and natural therapies [1]. The health benefits of vegetable supplements and also of a diet rich in natural products were monitored and investigated by the recent research and the public opinion. Over the past 1015 years, the consumption of natural foods and vegetal supplements/drugs based on natural compounds has significantly increased. Epidem- iological studies have demonstrated the active role of food/natural components in the prevention of chronic dise- ases, such as cardiovascular or malignant diseases, or also in the longevity and life quality improvement [2-4]. *Address corresponding to this author at the Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi della Basilicata Viale dell’Ateneo Lucano,10 85100 Potenza, Italy; Tel: +39 0971 205690; Fax: +39 0971 205503; E-mail: mariagrazia.bonomo@unibas.it In the last decades, an increasing interest to detect the secrets of ancient herbal remedies was observed. For this purpose, different strategies have been developed, including biological screening, isolation and clinical trials for a plants variety. Based on the methodologies of screening, the therapeutic values of many herbal medicines have already been established and are considered as safe for human beings [5]. Currently, it is well known the excessive use of synthetic antimicrobial compounds in food manufacture as additives and many of them are suspected for a residual toxicity. Several plant extracts present potential applications in food preservation, and the use of these extracts in the food industry could reduce the chemical preservatives addition and also the heat treatments intensity, so to obtain foods more naturally preserved and richer in organic properties [6, 7]. Plant materials rich in phenolics retard oxidative degradation of biomolecules, improving the quality and nutritional value of food, therefore they are very interesting for the food industries [8]. The beneficial health effects of extracts from many types of plants have been known for centuries and the search for new natural extracts, such as mother tinctures (TMs), to be used in the food and cosmetics industry, is very important at present (Russo et al. 2012). TMs are plant 1875-628X/20 $65.00+.00 ©2020 Bentham Science Publishers