Qualitative and quantitative composition variability of phenolic compounds in american cranberry (vaccinium macrocarpon ation) fruits and evaluation of antioxidant activity of their extraxts

Abstract

In the past several decades, various studies have shown that cranberry fruits accumulate a promising biologically active compounds, suitable for application in medicine, pharmacy, function foods and other scientific and practical fields. One of the most important group of biologically acitive compounds in cranberry fruits is phenolic compounds. They act as natural antioxidants, have strong antimicrobial, anticancer and cardiovascular system protecting activity. The aim of this study was the determination of composition of phenolic compounds of American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) fruit extracts using UPLC-ESIMS/MS analysis and evaluation of antioxidant activity in vitro of these extracts using CUPRAC, FRAP, and TFPH UV-VIS spectrophotometric assays. UPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis was applied for determination of qualitative and quantitative composition of Vaccinium macrocarpon fruit extracts of 8 different cultivars ('Baiwfay', 'Bergman', 'Bain', 'Drever', 'Holliston', 'Pilgrim', 'Searles', 'Woolman'). UPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis showed that flavonoids was a major group of phenolic compounds identified in American cranberry fruit extracts. The largest group of flavonoids was quercetin glycosides. The compounds of flavan-3-ols group (procyanidin A2, procyanidin C1, (+)-catechin and (-)-epicahechin) were also detected. The compounds from flavan-3-ols group are very important for human health. They have strong antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antiadhesive activity so cranberry fruits are widely used for the treatment of urinary tract diseases. Phenolic acids including hydroxybenzoic acids (vanillic and gallic acids) and hydroxycinnamic acids (caffeic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid and chlorogenic acid) were also identified. The greatest total amount of the identified phenolic compounds (519.53±19.41 mg/g DW) was detected in American cranberry samples of the 'Searless' cultivar, the lowest [...].