Abstract
Tomatoes have been associated with various health benefits, including the prevention of chronic diseases. The cis-isomers of lycopene occurring in tangerine tomatoes were, through clinical trials, proven to be more bioavailable than the all-trans lycopene found in red tomatoes. Nonetheless, scientific evidence regarding the bioactivities of the tangerine tomatoes is lacking. In this article, the antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory properties of extracts prepared from four different tomato varieties, namely Alfred, Olga’s Round Golden Chicken Egg, Golden Green, and Golden Eye, were investigated. While the antioxidant capacities of the extracts were measured through the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) assays, their anti-proliferative properties in prostate cancer cell lines were examined through the Sulforhodamine-B (SRB) assay. The anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts were assessed through the toll-like receptor (TLR)2, TLR4, and nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain containing protein 2 (NOD2)-mediated inflammatory pathways. Our results show that the tangerine tomatoes had lower IC50 values in both the anticancer and anti-inflammatory assays compared to the red tomatoes. Specifically, the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of the tangerine tomatoes in LNCaP cells were approximately two to three fold lower than the red tomato (IC50: 14.46, 5.62, and 8.08 mg dry tomato equivalent/mL from Alfred hexane-acetone, Olga’s Round Golden Chicken Egg hexane, and Golden Green hexane, respectively). These findings indicate that the tangerine varieties, Olga’s Round Golden Chicken Egg and Golden Green, possess greater potential to be used in conjunction with treatment and for the prevention of cancer and inflammatory-related diseases than the Alfred (red) and Golden Eye (high beta-carotene) varieties.
Highlights
The consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products has been suggested to minimize the risks of cardiovascular disease [1] and several types of cancer [2,3,4]
These isomers naturally occur in different matrixes; tetra-cis lycopene is found in lipid-soluble globular matrixes in tangerine tomatoes, while all-trans lycopene is Antioxidants 2019, 8, 230; doi:10.3390/antiox8070230
Our research reports the antioxidant, anti-proliferative, and anti-inflammatory activities of tomato extracts prepared from four different varieties, namely Alfred, Olga’s Round Golden Chicken Egg, Golden Green, and Golden Eye
Summary
The consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products has been suggested to minimize the risks of cardiovascular disease [1] and several types of cancer [2,3,4] These health benefits are thought to be attributed to the phytonutrient, lycopene, the principal carotenoid of tomatoes [5,6]. The cis isomers of lycopene were more bioavailable in humans than the all-trans counterpart [7,8,9]. This phenomenon is likely to be linked to the absorption process of lycopene within the human body [10].
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