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Citrus fruits are a rich source of bio-functional compounds with various and well-proven health properties. We focused our attention on an ancient Mediterranean species, Citrus lumia Risso. The aim of this work was to investigate the polyphenol content and biological activities of C. lumia albedo extract by cell-free and cell-based assays. Fifteen polyphenols were quantified by LC-DAD-FLD analysis (flavonoids 89.34% and phenolic acids 10.66%) with eriocitrin and hesperidin as major components (52.81% and 31.31%, respectively). These results were corroborated also by micromorphological observations, which showed clusters of needle-shaped crystals of hesperidin highlighted by TBO staining. C. lumia albedo extract revealed marked antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties, and a significant cytoprotective activity on t-BOOH-treated lymphocytes. Results indicate that C. lumia albedo extract could be exploited as an antioxidant source, suggesting the use of albedo, currently considered a by-product, as a valuable raw material for nutraceutical employments.

Today, in many European countries, people are looking for wild edible plants to experience new tastes and flavors, by following the new trend of being green and environmentally friendly. Young borage and spinach leaves can be easily confused by inexpert pickers with those of other plants, including poisonous ones, such as Mandragora autumnalis Bertol. (mandrake) or Digitalis purpurea L. (foxglove), common in southern and northern Italy respectively. In the last twenty years, several cases of intoxication by accidental ingestion of mandrake and foxglove have been reported. The purpose of this work was to perform a pharmacognostic characterization of young leaves from borage, mandrake, foxglove and spinach, by micro-morphological, molecular and phytochemical techniques. The results showed that each of the three techniques investigated could be sufficient alone to provide useful information for the identification of poisonous species helping the medical staff to manage quickly the poisoned patients. However, the multi-disciplinary approach proposed could be very useful to asses the presence of poisonous plants in complex matrices, to build a database containing morphological, molecular and phytochemical data for the identification of poisonous species or in forensic toxicology, given their increasingly frequent use due to their low cost and relatively common availability.