Two wild and three cultivated blueberry varieties ('Elliot' , 'Bluecrop' and 'Duke') from Romania were analyzed comparatively in order to determine the total polyphenols, total anthocyanins, total flavonoids content and measuring the antioxidant activity using three different single electron transfer-based assays, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (ABTS), ferric reducing ability (FRAP), 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazil radical scavenging capacity (DPPH) and one hydrogen atom transfer-assay, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). Total polyphenols content ranged from 424.84 -819.12 mg GAE/100 g FW, total flavonoids ranged from 84.33-112.5 mg QE /100 g FW and total anthocyanins ranged from 100.58-300.02 C3GE/100g FW. The anthocyanins were separated and quantified using RP-HPLC-DAD. In Vaccinium myrtillus, petunidin-3-glucoside and delphinidin-3-glucoside have the highest contribution to the anthocyanin content while in Vaccinium corymbosum, peonidin-3-galactoside represent the major anthocyanin. Except for ORAC assay (r=0.765), all antioxidant activity values obtained were highly correlated with total polyphenol content (0.923≤ r ≤0.986). Wild blueberries had higher total polyphenols content and also antioxidant activity compared with cultivated ones.

Blueberry consumption is associated with health benefits contributing to a reduced risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the anthocyanin profile of blueberry extracts and to evaluate their effects on B16-F10 metastatic melanoma murine cells. Seven blueberry cultivars cultivated in Romania were used. The blueberry extracts were purified over an Amberlite XAD-7 resin and a Sephadex LH-20 column, in order to obtain the anthocyanin rich fractions (ARF). The antioxidant activity of the ARF of all cultivars was evaluated by ABTS, CUPRAC and ORAC assays. High performance liquid chromatography followed by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS) was used to identify and quantify individual anthocyanins. The anthocyanin content of tested cultivars ranged from 101.88 to 195.01 mg malvidin-3-glucoside/100g fresh weight. The anthocyanin rich-fraction obtained from cultivar Torro (ARF-T) was shown to have the highest anthocyanin content and antioxidant activity, and inhibited B16-F10 melanoma murine cells proliferation at concentrations higher than 500 μg/ml. In addition, ARF-T stimulated apoptosis and increased total LDH activity in metastatic B16-F10 melanoma murine cells. These results indicate that the anthocyanins from blueberry cultivar could be used as a chemopreventive or adjuvant treatment for metastasis control.

The present study evaluates the antioxidant activity of two Aronia melanocarpa cultivars-Viking and Aronand of Aronia prunifolia hybrid in relationship with their phytochemical composition regarding the contents of total phenolics, flavonoids, procyanidins, and monomeric anthocyanins. The antioxidant capacity of the mentioned extracts of chokeberries was evaluated through five complementary assays: 2,2 0 -azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), H2O2 scavenging potential, oxygen radical absorbance capacity, ferric reducing antioxidant power, and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity. A. prunifolia hybrid was found to have the highest antioxidant activity and to be the richest in polyphenols, procyanidins, and anthocyanins compared with the A. melanocarpa cultivars. A good correlation was observed between antioxidant activity and total procyanidin and anthocyanin content. Cyanidin glycosides inhibited HeLa human cervical tumor cell proliferation and increased generation of reactive oxygen species after 48 h of treatment, suggesting that they could be responsible for the antiproliferative activity. These results may be significant for industry concerning food quality and disease prevention.

The increasing interest for phytochemical antioxidants, found in many medicinal plants, is demonstrated experimentally by epidemiological and in vitro studies which show their positive effects on human health. Mistletoe contains therapeutically active ingredients which incubated with several human cancer cell lines revealed cytotoxicity for the cancer cells, but no evidence is available for their chemoprotective properties. We investigated in vitro the potential of extracts from Viscum album growing on Mallus domestica (VAM) to modulate the activity of phase II detoxifying enzymes using the gluthatione S-transferase (GST) and quinone oxidoreductase (QR) assays and to inhibition of adherent epithelial human ovarian tumor cells A2780 proliferation using the MTT assay. We found that different concentrations of VaM extract had inhibitory effects on the growth of adherent epithelial human ovarian tumor cells A2780 (IC50 = 120.62 µg/ml, after 48 h treatment). Also, this extract is a good antioxidant source (total phenol content of 91.51 mg gallic acid equivalents /g dry weight), having a radical scavenging ability and a reducing potential proportional to the dose used (from 0.312 to 5 mg/ml) in vitro. At 120 µg/ml, this extract increased, significantly, the activity of GST and QR, as well the level of GSH.