LC-MS-MS Analysis and the Antioxidant Activity of Flavonoids from Eggplant Skins Grown in Organic and Conventional Environments
Eggplant (Solanum melongena), or aubergine, is a
species of nightshade, grown for its edible fruit. In recent years, its consumption
in the American diet has continuously increased due to ever greater cultural
diversity and awareness that consumption of fruits and vegetables provides
significant health benefits. And it has been known that eggplant fruits contain
different classes of phenolic phytochemicals (flavonols, phenolic acids, and
anthocyanins) that can exert beneficial effects on human health. While different
fruit parts, e.g. skin, pulp and seed, can have different phytochemical
profiles, so the authors in this study focused on the eggplant skin polyphenol
composition in two popular hybrid varieties, Blackbell and Millionaire.
In this study, Blackbell and Millionaire were grown in Hanford sandy loam soil
under both under conventional (Alvarez Farm) in Reedley, California and organic
(T&D Willey Farm) in Madera, California. Eggplant fruits were harvested,
placed immediately in ice chest, and sent overnight in refrigeration to the
Food Composition Method Development Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. All samples
were peeled to isolate the skins (purple outer peel) from the whitish fleshy
pulp of the fruits. Samples were stored in a freezer below −60˚C and
freeze-dried. The freeze-dried samples were ground in a coffee grinder and the
ground samples were stored below −60˚C until extracted and analyzed. And this study
developed methods for the qualitative and quantitative composition analysis of
phenolic compounds in the skin of eggplant fruits. Also, eggplant skin was
extracted by using aqueous methanol prior to phenolic profiling with
UHPLC-ESI-MS-MS.
The results
indicated that the analyzed eggplant skin extracts yielded a profile of 16
phenolic acids, 4 anthocyanins, and 11 flavonols, the first report of
quercetin-3-diglucoside, myricetin-3-neohesperidoside, myricetin-3-galactoside,
kaempferol-3,7-diglucoside, kaempferol-diglucoside and quercetin-3-rhamnoside.
Polyphenolic extracts from all sources potently delayed the cupric ion-mediated
lag-time for LDL lipid oxidation and protected Apo-B100 proteins against
oxidative modification. Organic growing environment positively influenced
eggplant skin extract phenolic profile but not antioxidant capacity.
In conclusion,
eggplant skin has a robust profile of phenolic phytochemicals with excellent
antioxidant properties. And future studies are needed to characterize how to
promote the development of eggplant fruits with higher phenolic content and
potentially greater human health benefits.
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Image by eriko_jpn, from Flickr-cc.
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