Abstract
Epiphyllum, Hylocereus, and Opuntia plants belong to the Cactaceae family. They are mostly known as ornamental plants but also for their edible fruits, which can potentially be sources of betalains, such as betanin, a natural pigment used in the food industry, e.g., under the European label code E 162. The aim of this work was the identification of betalains (using LC-MS/MS), evaluation of total betalain content (spectrophotometrically), analysis of functional groups (using FT-IR), evaluation of antioxidant activity (using DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, DCFH-DA, and reducing power methods) and evaluation of antimicrobial activity (S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans) in fruits of Epiphyllum, Hylocereus, and Opuntia taxa. A total of 20 betalains were identified in the studied Cactaceae fruits. The Epiphyllum pink hybrid had the highest values of total betalains amongst all samples. The highest antioxidant activity was observed in the Epiphyllum pink hybrid, in Opuntia zacuapanensis and O. humifusa fruits. The antimicrobial activity assay showed that cacti fruits were not able to effectively inhibit the growth of E. coli, S. aureus, or C. albicans. Our results prove that these fruits are good sources of natural pigments—betalains. They do not contain toxic compounds in significant amounts and they exhibit antioxidant activity.
Highlights
Species and hybrids of the genus Epiphyllum Haw. are cultivated and used mostly as ornamental plants
To the best of our knowledge, there are no reliable sources regarding their biological activities, there is a report on the moisturizing effect of Epiphyllum oxypetalum extract on human epidermal cells, which indicates its potential use in the cosmetic industry [3]
Epiphyllum, Hylocereus, and Opuntia fruits with undefined chemical composition, we have evaluated their antimicrobial activity in percentage (v/v), not in units of concentration
Summary
Species and hybrids of the genus Epiphyllum Haw. are cultivated and used mostly as ornamental plants. They are famous for their big, colourful, fragrant flowers [1], which usually bloom at night. Their fruits are plum-shaped and of various colours, typically shades of green to yellow or red to purple. They are edible, usually not commercially available [2]. The toxicology and pharmacology of Epiphyllum plants have been of little scientific interest so far. Phytochemical aspects of Epiphyllum plants were studied to a greater extent and various betalains, steroids, flavonoids, and other phenolic compounds were identified [1,4,5,6,7,8,9]
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