Furanocoumarins contents and cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) inhibitory activities of various processed fruit peel products: Outflow of 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin during processing treatment of peel

Abstract

Furanocoumarins (FCs) such as bergamottin (BG) and 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin (DHBG) contained in grapefruits are known to be cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) inhibitors. These are contained in larger quantity in peel than in pulp, and therefore, processed peel products possibly have strong CYP3A4 inhibitory activity. The CYP3A4 inhibitory potency of these processed peel products, however, remains to be elucidated. The FC content and CYP3A inhibitory activities of various processed fruit peel products were investigated. CYP3A inhibitory activities of crystallized grapefruit peel, grapefruit marmalade, lemon peel and bitter orange slice were close to that of 100% grapefruit juice, while the activities of yuzu slice, pomelo (buntan) marmalade and crystallized iyokan peel were very weak, 1/8-1/20 of 100% grapefruit juice. The maximum BG content was 5.6 μg/g in lemon peel. The maximum DHBG content was 7.2 μg /g in crystallized grapefruit peel, about 1/30 that of raw peel. Grapefruit marmalade and crystallized grapefruit peel contained similar amounts of FCs to 100% grapefruit juice, but FCs were not detected in pomelo (buntan) marmalade or crystallized iyokan peel. Good correlation (r=0.78) was observed between the FC contents of these peel products and those CYP3A inhibitory activities. Preparation of homemade grapefruit marmalade and crystallized peel revealed that considerably lower DHBG content in these products and lower CYP3A inhibitory activity than anticipated were attributable to outflow of DHBG to broth during boiling of the raw peel. © 2011 The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan.