Polycetylenes in different carrot cultivated varieties
30 Nov 2009
Juan Valverde
Carrots are known to contain a wide range of bioactive secondary metabolites such as carotenoids, phenolics and bisacetylenes oxilipins (polyactelynes). Brandon Metzger and David Barnes from the Department of Researchy and development in wisconsin USA have characterized the phytochemical content and bioactivity of different cultivated varieties of carrots. Two commercial carrots, 1 wild carrot and 13 coloured carrots were phytochemically characterized. The carrots were also screened in an anti-inflammatory model of lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production.
The results show that a purple variety (Deep Purple) contained the highest concentration of total polyacetylenes alpha-tocopherol and total phenolics. A yellow variety (Yellowstone) and the wild variety (Queen's Anne Lace) contained also high amounts of polyacetylenes. Falcarindiol 3-acetate is the highest polyacetylene in white and wild varieties tested. In addition, purple carrots showed a higher anti-oxidant capacity values. Authors suggest that this is due to higher content in anthocyanins.
However, the studied carrot extracts did not present correlation between anti-inflammatory activity and polyacetylene content. Two varieties (market baby and white satin) had low concentrations of polyacetylenes and yet had bioactivity (IC25 = 257−1321 μg/mL). Authors indicate that this could be due to hormetic properties of polyacetylenes.
Authors conclude that further work is needed to identify other potential anti-inflammatory phytochemicals in coloured carrots.
Direct link to this paper at:
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9025663
