Dose Of Anthocyanins Research Articles

Anthocyanin content, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties of blackberry and raspberry fruits

Fresh or processed berries are considered to be beneficial for health by many consumers. Fruits of closely related species of plants sometimes possess strikingly different phytochemistry and biological activities. Therefore, even though similar research has been conducted on a number of Rubus berries, there is much relevance associated with the investigation of species that have not been previously studied. In the current report, the fruits of three wild Jamaica-grown species: Rubus jamaicensis, Rubus rosifolius and Rubus racemosus, and of the Michigan-grown Rubus acuminatus, Rubus idaeus cv. Heritage and Rubus idaeus cv. Golden were analyzed for their anthocyanin contents, and lipid peroxidation, cyclooxygenase enzyme and human tumor cell proliferation inhibitory activities. It was revealed that the fruits contained superior levels of anthocyanins (146–2199 mg/100 g fresh weight) to those previously reported for other raspberry and blackberry species, and their hexane, EtOAc and MeOH extracts showed good antioxidant activity, the majority of the extracts exhibiting over 50% lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity at 50 μg/mL. The hexane extracts of the Jamaican Rubus spp. demonstrated moderate COX inhibitory activity (27.5–33.1%) at 100 μg/mL, and exhibited the greatest potential to inhibit cancer cell growth, inhibiting colon, breast, lung, and gastric human tumor cells by 50, 24, 54 and 37%, respectively. The high anthocyanin content and biological activities of these fruits indicate that their consumption would be beneficial to health, and that they may be useful in the production of functional foods containing an efficacious dose of anthocyanins.

Effects of Purple Sweet Potato Anthocyanins on Development and Intracellular Redox Status of Bovine Preimplantation Embryos Exposed to Heat Shock

The development of cleavage stage preimplantation embryos is disrupted by exposure to heat shock, such as high temperatures in the summer season. In this study, we investigated whether addition of anthocyanins, which are strong scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS), improves development and intracellular redox status of heat-exposed bovine preimplantation embryos by reduction of heat shock-derived oxidative stress. After in vitro fertilization (IVF), embryos were cultured at 38.5 C through Day 8 (Day 0=day of IVF) with 0, 0.1, 1 and 10 microg/ml anthocyanins (non-heat-shocked group). On Day 2, embryos were cultured at 41.5 C for 6 h with 0, 0.1, 1 and 10 microg/ml anthocyanins followed by culture at 38.5 C until Day 8 (HS group). After exposure to heat shock, the intracellular ROS and glutathione (GSH) contents of individual embryos were measured in the non-heat-shocked and HS groups using fluorescent probes. On Day 8, the blastocysts formation rates of the embryos and total cell numbers of blastocysts were evaluated. Embryos exposed to heat shock without anthocyanins showed a significant decrease in blastocyst formation rate and GSH content (P<0.05) and an increase in intracellular ROS (P<0.05) compared with non-heat-shocked embryos. In contrast, addition of 0.1 microg/ml anthocyanins significantly (P<0.05) improved the blastocyst formation rate of the heat-shocked embryos. Addition of any dose of anthocyanins produced a significant decrease in the ROS levels (P<0.05) and tended to increase the GSH levels under heat-shock conditions. However, addition of higher concentrations (1 and 10 microg/ml) of anthocyanins to the culture media under heat shock did not improve the development of embryos. These results indicate that anthocyanins maintain the intracellular redox balance of heat-shocked bovine embryos by reducing intracellular oxidative stress and increasing the GSH levels. Thus, alterations of the redox state using natural antioxidative polyphenols is a useful approach for reducing heat shock-derived oxidative stress.