@article{
author = "Chahdoura, Hassiba and Barreira, Joao C. M. and Fernandez-Ruiz, Virginia and Morales, Patricia and Calhelha, Ricardo C. and Flamini, Guido and Soković, Marina and Ferreira, Isabel C. F. R. and Achour, Lotfi",
year = "2016",
abstract = "Opuntia spp. flowers have been traditionally used for medical purposes,
mostly because of their diversity in bioactive molecules with health
promoting properties. The proximate, mineral and volatile compound
profiles, together with the cytotoxic and antimicrobial properties were
characterized in O. microdasys flowers at different maturity stages,
revealing several statistically significant differences. O. microdasys
stood out mainly for its high contents of dietary fiber, potassium and
camphor, and its high activities against HCT15 cells, Staphylococcus
aureus, Aspergillus versicolor and Penicillium funiculosum. The
vegetative stage showed the highest cytotoxic and antifungal activities,
whilst the full flowering stage was particularly active against
bacterial species. The complete dataset has been classified by principal
component analysis, achieving clearly identifiable groups for each
flowering stage, elucidating also the most distinctive features, and
comprehensively profiling each of the assayed stages. The results might
be useful to define the best flowering stage considering practical
application purposes.",
journal = "Food and Function",
title = "Bioactivity, proximate, mineral and volatile profiles along the
flowering stages of Opuntia microdasys (Lehm.): defining potential
applications",
number = "3",
volume = "7",
doi = "10.1039/c5fo01536g",
pages = "1458-1467"
}