Opuntia ficus‐indica (L.) Mill. fruit as source of betalains with antioxidant, cytoprotective, and anti‐angiogenic properties

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate the phytochemical profile and biological properties of different colours of betalain cactus pear extracts, evaluating their antioxidant, cytoprotective, and anti‐angiogenic properties by cell‐free, cell‐based, and in vivo assays. A QuEChERS extraction method followed by RP‐LC‐DAD‐MS/MS analysis showed that indicaxanthin and betanin were the main compounds (≥94.32% and ≥96.95%, respectively). Orange cactus pear extracts exert the best antioxidant activity in all assays carried out, in particular into ORAC (17,352.55 ± 987.407 mg trolox equivalents/100 g dry weight) and β‐carotene bleaching (60.35%) assays. The red ones, instead, showed the best cytoprotective activity decreasing the cell mortality, LDH, and Caspase‐3 release ranging from 4.0 to 55%. According to antioxidant results, the orange cactus pear extracts showing also the highest anti‐angiogenic activity (IC50 19.31 μg/ml), followed by the red (IC50 23.55 μg/ml) and the yellow ones (IC50 33.97 μg/ml). In light of the results and correlation analysis, the behaviour of these molecules varies a lot according to their structure and physicochemical features and synergistic activity between betalain classes may be postulated; so the plant complex could be of greater interest compared with the isolated molecules for potential nutraceutical and pharmaceutical uses.

Evaluation of Anthocyanin Profile, Antioxidant, Cytoprotective, and Anti-Angiogenic Properties of Callistemon citrinus Flowers

“…The ORAC assay was carried out according to Smeriglio et al [62]. Twenty microliters of extract solution (0.15-1.2 µg/mL) diluted in 75 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), were added to 120 µL of 117 nM fluorescein solution, and incubated 15 min at 37 • C. After that, 60 µL of fresh AAPH solution (40 mM) was added to start the reaction.…”

Corryocactus brevistylus (K. Schum. ex Vaupel) Britton & Rose (Cactaceae): Antioxidant, Gastroprotective Effects, and Metabolomic Profiling by Ultrahigh-Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Electrospray High Resolution Orbitrap Tandem Mass Spectrometry

“…Furthermore, Cactaceae plants have demonstrated gastroprotective activity. As an example, the medicinal plant O. ficus-indica (Cactaceae) has showed gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, and antioxidant effects, it has also showed antimicrobial and nutraceutical properties, the extract could serve as diuretic, anticancer, anti-stress, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory and is good for the healing of skin lesions (El-Mostafa et al, 2014;Aragona et al, 2018;Aruwa et al, 2019;Smeriglio et al, 2019).…”

“…In this sense, many foods have been studied and the technological progress each day finds new biological applications on fruits and fruit products. Among endemic South American edible fruits, we can find Opuntia prickly pear (Aruwa et al, 2019;Smeriglio et al, 2019), chayote pear (Díaz- de-Cerio et al, 2019), cherimola pulp (Albuquerque et al, 2016), strawberry (Baby et al, 2018), maqui (Rivera-Tovar et al, 2019), and murta (Rivera-Tovar et al, 2019) among others.…”

Polyphenol Characterization, Antioxidant and Skin Whitening Properties of Alnus cordata Stem Bark

“…The β ‐carotene bleaching assay was performed according to Smeriglio et al . Briefly, β ‐carotene (0.4 mg) was dissolved in 0.4 mL of chloroform, and then linoleic acid (40 μL) and Tween‐40 (400 μL) were added.…”

“…The β-carotene bleaching assay was performed according to Smeriglio et al [23] Briefly, β-carotene (0.4 mg) was dissolved in 0.4 mL of chloroform, and then linoleic acid (40 μL) and Tween-40 (400 μL) were added. Chloroform was removed at 40°C under vacuum and the resulting mixture was diluted with 50 mL of pre-oxygenated water.…”