BACKGROUND: Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, such as berry fruits, reduces the risk of many chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the nutraceutical proprieties of wild and cultivated blackberry (Rubus sp.) and wild elderberry (Sambuca nigra) fruits produced in some regions of Southern Italy, such as Basilicata and Campania. METHODS: Liquid chromatography and HPLC-UV system were used for the identification and quantification of individual health-promoting compounds. RESULTS: A comparative analysis of nutraceutical compounds in berry fruits produced by different regions of South Italy showed a high significant variability inter species (p < 0.05), independently on location area, with higher values for wild than cultivated blackberries for the major part of compounds. CONCLUSIONS: In this paper, differences in the health-promoting compounds of berry fruits belonging from different areas of South Italy were reported.

Berry fruits contain high levels of different phytochemicals, most of which are phenolic molecules. Fruits of the same cultivar from different locations and different harvest years have different chemical compositions, particularly related to polyphenols. The difference may be due to specific climatic conditions, the type of soil in which the plants grow, and the stresses to which the plants were subjected because these phytochemicals are produced as a defense mechanism through a secondary metabolic process. For this reason, it is important to establish simple and reliable procedure to determine polyphenolic compounds in berry fruits considering the increasing attention on these compounds for different potential uses. In order to choose and to improve the most adequate analytical procedure for the determination of the polyphenolic substances in berry fruits, different methods were applied and compared on samples of elderberry and blackberry.

Plain paraffin was pellets and pellets containing 1% and 5% 20-MCA were implanted in the bladder of 219 C57 X IF and Swiss mice of both sexes. One hundred and fifty four survived and were killed after 40-42 weeks; 56 had been implanted with plain pellet and 98 with pellet containing the carcinogen. Only one bladder tumour (1,8%) developed in the former, whereas 35 tumours (35.7%) were found in the latter group. When a pellet containing 20-MCA was used, the tumour incidence was related to the strain and sex of the animals, rather than to the amount of carcinogen in the pellet. As a matter of fact, irrespective of the concentration of 20-MCA, females C57 X IF gave a significantly higher tumour yiels (87.5%) than males and Swiss mice of both sexes. It is concluded that when bladder implantation is used to induce tumours in mice, the results must be strictly referred to strain and sex. Besides tumours, areas of marked epithelial hyperplasia were seen in bladders implanted with either plain pellet or pellet containing 20-MCA. The possible meaning of this hyperplasia is briefly discussed and the need for further investigation stressed.