Glucoraphenin, sulforaphene, and antiproliferative capacity of radish sprouts in germinating and thermal processes

Abstract

Glucoraphenin, the predominant glucosinolate in radish sprouts, is hydrolyzed by myrosinase to sulforaphene that is implicated to exert anticancerogenic effects. The effects of germination and subsequent cooking processes on the levels of glucoraphenin and its hydrolysis products were investigated in this research. HPLC analysis revealed that the levels of glucoraphenin and sulforaphene decreased with germination time. In agreement with the above results, the antiproliferation activity of radish sprouts extracts on human lung cancer cells was also found to decline gradually in line with the germination process. Furthermore, when we applied three traditional cooking treatments to radish sprouts, the glucoraphenin and sulforaphene were markedly decreased; while the antiproliferation activity of cooked radish sprouts was considerably decreased. This research showed that 3-day-old radish sprouts are an excellent source of bioactive compounds that could potentially benefit human health, while any cooking process appears to cause the devastation of beneficial attributes in radish sprouts.