University of Algarve , Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Campus of Gambelas, Faro, Portugal.
J Agric Food Chem. 2011 Jul 13;59(13):7005-12. doi: 10.1021/jf200838f. Epub 2011 Jun 3.
Extracts from fruit pulps of six female cultivars and two hermaphrodite Portuguese carob trees [(Ceratonia siliqua L., Fabaceae)] exhibited strong antioxidant activity and were rich in phenolic compounds. The extracts decreased the viability of different human cancer cell lines on a dose- and time-dependent manner. Gender and cultivar significantly influenced the chemical content and the biological activities of the extracts. Extracts from hermaphrodite trees had a higher content of phenolic compounds, and exhibited higher antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. Among females, cv. Aida had the highest radical scavenging activity and total content of phenolics, Mulata the highest capacity to inhibit lipid oxidation and Gasparinha the strongest cytotoxic activity on HeLa cells. The decrease in cell viability was associated with apoptosis on HeLa and MDA-MB-231 lines. (+)-Catechin and gallic acid (GA) were the main compounds identified in the extracts, and GA contributed to the antioxidant activity. Our results show that the antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of carob tree fruit pulps are strongly influenced by gender and cultivar, and provide new knowledge about the advantages of hermaphrodite trees over female cultivars, namely, as a source of compounds with biological interest, which may represent an increase of their agronomic interest.
六种雌性品种和两种雌雄同体的葡萄牙角豆树（Ceratonia siliqua L.，豆科）的果肉提取物表现出很强的抗氧化活性，并且富含酚类化合物。提取物以剂量和时间依赖的方式降低了不同人类癌细胞系的活力。性别和品种显著影响提取物的化学含量和生物活性。雌雄同体树的提取物具有更高的酚类化合物含量，并且表现出更高的抗氧化和细胞毒性活性。在雌性中，品种 Aida 具有最高的自由基清除活性和总酚含量，Mulata 具有最高的抑制脂质氧化能力，Gasparinha 对 HeLa 细胞具有最强的细胞毒性活性。细胞活力的降低与 HeLa 和 MDA-MB-231 细胞系的细胞凋亡有关。（+）-儿茶素和没食子酸（GA）是提取物中鉴定出的主要化合物，GA 有助于抗氧化活性。我们的结果表明，角豆树果实果肉的抗氧化和细胞毒性活性受到性别和品种的强烈影响，并提供了关于雌雄同体树相对于雌性品种的优势的新知识，即作为具有生物兴趣的化合物的来源，这可能代表着它们农业兴趣的增加。
