Ripe fruits of Bromelia antiacantha: Investigations on the chemical and bioactivity profile

Abstract

Bromelia antiacantha (known as wild banana) is traditionally used to treat coughs, as an emollient and antitussive, and to treat mouth and skin ulcers. To investigate the radical scavenger properties, DPPH and phosphomolybdenium were used, with low antioxidant activity being observed for both (below 5 mg/ml of extract presented no activity for both techniques). An HPLC fingerprint of phenolic compounds was developed and total phenolics through Folin-Ciocalteau method was an average of 500 μg/g of fresh fruits. Any cytotoxicity was observed on L929 fibroblasts cells for aqueous, methanol and lipid extracts between 500 and 0.01 μg/ml. The wild banana extract (1000 μg/mL) shown a lower genotoxicity when compared to the negative and positive (MMS) controls. Abundant calcium oxalate crystals and sucrose were found and characterized through NMR and X-ray diffraction respectively. Its centesimal composition indicated abundant carbohydrates (45%) and lipids (18%). The carbohydrate analysis showed acidic monosaccharides, and the lipid analysis shown palmitic and linoleic acids in similar quantities (30% each) and oleic acid 20%, among others, through GC-FID. The viscosity of the water-soluble polysaccharide sub-fraction (5 g/L) was similar to that of water.