Within the Cactaceae family, Opuntia comprises the most widespread species, with a recognized importance in human life, including feeding, domestic use as home natural barriers, and as a traditional remedy for diverse diseases and conditions such asthma, edema, and burns. Indeed, scientific reports have stated that these health benefits may be due to various active compounds, particularly polyphenols, which are ubiquitously found in plants and have proven their pharmacological efficiency by displaying antimicrobial, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory activities, among others. Opuntia species contain different classes of phenolic compounds that are recognized for their anti-inflammatory potential. Among them, quercetin, isorhamnetin, and kaempferol derivates were reported to greatly contribute to modulate cells’ infiltration and secretion of soluble inflammatory mediators, with key implications in the inflammatory process. In this review, we make a summary of the different classes of phenolic compounds reported in Opuntia species so far and explore their implications in the inflammatory process, reported by in vitro and in vivo bioassays, supporting the use of cactus in folk medicine and valorizing them from the socio-economic point of view.

Opuntia species are well-known for their use in folk medicine and richness in many bioactive compounds. This study aims to realize a taxonomic study and to evaluate the polyphenols content and antioxidant potential of edible parts of cultivated and wild Opuntia sp. fruits, using different in-vitro bioassays. The phylogenetic analysis confirmed the assignment of the samples to Opuntia genera. The Opuntia fruit fractions (seeds, pulp, and entire fruit) exhibited different amounts of polyphenols, with the highest values recorded for the wild species, and particularly their pulp (1140.86 mg GAE/100 g DM, and 155.62 QE/100 g DM for total phenolic and flavonoid compounds, respectively). Among the antioxidant activities, wild pulp exhibited the greatest antioxidant potential with a high radical scavenging activity (72.34% and 92.12% for hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals, respectively). The best nitric oxide scavenging activity was found for cultivated fruit fraction, with 55.22%. The statistical analysis also confirmed a significant correlation between the antioxidant activities and the phenolic compounds and flavonoids (>0.90, p ≤ 0.001) in all Opuntia extracts. Finally, both Opuntia fruits demonstrated a good antioxidant potential, enhancing the interest of this species as a non-pharmacological approach in a wide variety of disorders and diseases associated with oxidative stress, and paving the way to Opuntia sp. economic valorization.

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