Proceedings of the XLVII Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Verona, Italy - 24/27 September, 2003

ISBN 88-900622-4-X

Poster Abstract - 3.23

BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS IN CITRUS GENOTYPES: PRESENCE AND BIOLOGICAL FUNCTION. PRELIMINAR RESULTS

S. FATTA DEL BOSCO*, L. CAMARDA**, V. DI STEFANO**, D. SCHILLACI**

*) Istituto di Genetica Vegetale, sezione di Palermo, C.N.R.

**) Dipartimento di Chimica e Tecnologie Farmaceutiche, Università di Palermo

genotype, phytochemicals, flavonoid

There is currently much interest in phytochemicals as food bioactive components. Numerous epidemiological surveys showed a direct relationship between fruit, vegetables and cereals intake and protection against cardiovascular disease and cancer. Among the different mechanisms that contribute to the protective properties, the anti-oxidant (radical-scavenging) activity is considered a significant and crucial factor.

Recent work is emphasizing the role of flavonoids as important anti-oxidant components. Citrus fruit are particularly rich in flavonoids compounds, mainly stored in the vacoules as flavanone glycosides; their amount and characteristics are highly genotype-specific.

Orange and grapefruit juices (as well as the fruits themselves) are highly consumed and are potentially major contributors to the total dietary flavonoids.

We have analyzed the following species and varietes: Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osb.) cvs. Washington Navel and Vaniglia, Mandarin (C. reticulata Blanco) cv. Avana, Grapefruit (C. paradisi L.) cv. Ruby Red Star, Clementine (C. clementina Hort. Ex Tan.) cv. Nules, Bitter orange (C aurantium myrtifolia).

Centrifuged fresh juices, added with an internal standard, were analyzed by HPLC with UV-Vis detector. By comparing retention times with commercial standards, five flavanone glycosides were identified and quantitated.

Differences have been observed in terms of flavanone glycoside content in the genotypes analyzed.

The fruit juices were tested for their in vitro antiproliferative activity against K562 (human chronic myelogenous leukemia), L1210 (murine leukemia) and MCF-7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) cell lines. The antiproliferative effects were estimated in terms of growth inhibition percentage at a screening concentration of 10%v/v.

Preliminary results are interesting, in fact some Citrus varietes showed a value of growth inhibition percentage of 100% against leukemic cell lines and about 80% against MCF-7 cell lines.