Abstract
There is increasing interest in research into fruits as sources of secondary metabolites because of their potential bioactivities. In this study, the phenolic profiles of Malus domestica Anna and Jonagold cultivars from Costa Rica were determined by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled with High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) using a quadrupole-time-of-flight analyzer (UPLC-QTOF-ESI MS), on enriched-phenolic extracts from skins and flesh, obtained through Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE). In total, 48 different phenolic compounds were identified in the skin and flesh extracts, comprising 17 flavan-3-ols, 12 flavonoids, 4 chalcones, 1 glycosylated isoprenoid and 14 hydroxycinnamic acids and derivatives. Among extracts, the flesh of Jonagold exhibits a larger number of polyphenols and is especially rich in procyanidin trimers, tetramers and pentamers. Evaluating total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activities using ORAC and DPPH procedures yields higher values for this extract (608.8 mg GAE/g extract; 14.80 mmol TE/g extract and IC50 = 3.96 µg/mL, respectively). In addition, cytotoxicity evaluated against SW620 colon cancer cell lines and AGS gastric cancer cell lines also delivered better effects for Jonagold flesh (IC50 = 62.4 and 60.0 µg/mL, respectively). In addition, a significant negative correlation (p < 0.05) was found between TPC and cytotoxicity values against SW620 and AGS adenocarcinoma (r = −0.908, and −0.902, respectively). Furthermore, a significant negative correlation (p < 0.05) was also found between the number of procyanidins and both antioxidant activities and cytotoxicity towards SW620 (r = −0.978) and AGS (r = −0.894) cell lines. These results align with Jonagold flesh exhibiting the highest abundance in procyanidin oligomers and yielding better cytotoxic and antioxidant results. In sum, our findings suggest the need for further studies on these Costa Rican apple extracts—and particularly on the extracts from Jonagold flesh—to increase the knowledge on their potential benefits for health.
Highlights
The increasing popularity and acceptability of herbal medicine is based on natural products being safe and readily available [1]
The UPLC-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) analysis using the QTOF-ESI MS technique allowed 106 compounds to be characterized in phenolic enriched extracts of skins and flesh of Anna and Jonagold apple cultivars in Costa Rica
The flesh of the Jonagold cultivar displayed the most abundant number of polyphenols and exhibited higher and more diversified procyanidin oligomers than cultivars from other countries reported in the literature
Summary
The increasing popularity and acceptability of herbal medicine is based on natural products being safe and readily available [1]. This awareness is well justified, since evidence of the past decades demonstrates the medicinal properties and functionalities of dietary derived natural compounds and their several health implications. Oxidative stress is a central mechanism of disease and aging. There is sufficient evidence suggesting that an increase in the production of ROS can contribute to developing chronic diseases such as neurodegeneratives [4], cancer [5], cardiovascular [6] and infectious diseases [7]
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