Potential Health Benefits of Banana Phenolic Content during Ripening by Implementing Analytical and In Silico Techniques

Abstract

Banana ranks as the fifth most cultivated agricultural crop globally, highlighting its crucial socio-economic role. The banana’s health-promoting benefits are correlated with its composition in bioactive compounds, such as phenolic compounds. Thus, the present study attempts to evaluate the potential health benefits of banana phenolic content by combing analytical and in silico techniques. Particularly, the total phenolic content and antioxidant/antiradical activity of banana samples during ripening were determined spectrophotometrically. In parallel, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis was implemented to unravel the variations in the phenolic profile of banana samples during ripening. Chlorogenic acid emerged as a ripening marker of banana, while apigenin and naringenin were abundant in the unripe fruit. In a further step, the binding potential of the elucidated phytochemicals was examined by utilizing molecular target prediction tools. Human carbonic anhydrase II (hCA-II) and XII (hCA-XII) enzymes were identified as the most promising targets and the inhibitory affinity of phenolic compounds was predicted through molecular docking studies. This class of enzymes is linked to a variety of pathological conditions, such as edema, obesity, hypertension, cancer, etc. The results assessment indicated that all assigned phenolic compounds constitute great candidates with potential inhibitory activity against CA enzymes.

The phytochemical composition, anti-microbial and in vitro cytotoxic activities of green and ripe banana pulps

“…The findings indicated that green pulp had a higher total phenolic content (TPC) than ripe pulp. This finding was consistent with the other study's finding that banana pulp's TPC reduced as fruits ripened (Kritsi et al, 2023). The primary bioactive components of banana fruits are phenolic compounds, which provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and anti-allergic activities (Moo-Huchin et al, 2015;Islam et al, 2018).…”

“…The portion of BP that is edible is rich in nutrients. Depending on their chemical makeup, BP and its flour may have a variety of purposes (Kritsi et al, 2023). Banana peel suggests a possible better value in terms of antioxidant content because a prior study found that the antioxidant chemicals in the peel were higher than in the pulp (Parvez et al, 2023).…”

Quality Assessment of Ground Coffee Samples from Greek Market Using Various Instrumental Analytical Methods, In Silico Studies and Chemometrics

“…MS acquisition was performed with an electrospray (ESI) ionization source in the negative mode, which is the preferred ionization mode for the phenolic compounds. Moreover, the data-dependent MS/MS analysis was conducted by applying information-dependent acquisition (IDA)-triggered MS/MS scans (EPI—enhanced product ion scans) [ 29 ]. The mass error was 0.1 Da in MS and 0.5 Da in MS/MS.…”

“…The mass error was 0.1 Da in MS and 0.5 Da in MS/MS. All the technical and instrumentation-related information regarding the LC-MS/MS method used for the elucidation of the phenolic compounds of coffee samples are described in detail in previous publications of our group [ 29 , 30 ].…”

“…The elucidation of phenolic compounds was carried out using a library developed in-house, which contained phenolic acids and flavonoids [ 29 ]. Furthermore, additional characteristic mass fragments, apart from those corresponding to the phenolic compounds of the in-house library, were also identified according to literature data [ 31 ].…”