Phenolic and glycidic profiling of bananas Musa sp associated with maturation stage and cancer chemoprevention activities

Abstract

Banana, Musa sp, is widely consumed all over the world, being popularly known as a natural antioxidant. The glycidic profile obtained by negative-ion mode electrospray Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry of the Pacovan, Ambrosia, Japira, Prata Comum, Vitória and Tropical cultivars, in four stages of maturation, showed that the Prata-type cultivar presented higher monosaccharide content than the disaccharides. On the other hand, Gros Michel-type (Ambrosia) and Maça-type (Tropical) cultivars presented the opposite behavior. The phenolic profile showed that, in all cultivars, the most abundant phytochemical class was flavonoids, such as myricetindeoxyhexose-hexoside, followed by cinnamic acids, such as caffeic acid. All samples evaluated showed high inhibition of the nitric oxide production. Furthermore, the Pacovan-type cultivar, at maturity stage 2, showed high inhibition of NF-κB; and extracts of cultivar Japira-type, maturity stages 2, 4 and 7, and Ambrosia, stage 4, showed greater aromatase inhibition, i.e., higher than 50%.