Unlocking the Bioactive Potential of Pomegranate Peels: A Green Extraction Approach

Grillo, Giorgio and Capaldi, Giorgio and Radošević, Kristina and Jakopović, Željko and Markov, Ksenija and Brncic, Mladen and Gallina, Lorenzo and Calcio Gaudino, Emanuela and Cravotto, Giancarlo (2023) Unlocking the Bioactive Potential of Pomegranate Peels: A Green Extraction Approach. Antioxidants, 12 (10). p. 1796. ISSN 2076-3921

[thumbnail of antioxidants-12-01796-v2.pdf] Text
antioxidants-12-01796-v2.pdf - Published Version

Download (4MB)

Abstract

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is well known for its high content of bioactives, including polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannins, which have been shown to exhibit a wide range of biological activities, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects. It is worth noting that the majority of these molecules are found in the peels, which are usually disposed of after processing, causing a significant amount of waste, amounting to more than 3.6 million t/y. This work investigates microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) in water for the recovery of antioxidants from pomegranate peels (PP), including the optimisation of temperature and extraction times. The total phenolic, anthocyanin, flavonoid, and tannin contents of the recovered extracts were determined, as well as their antioxidant activities, which were found to be 356.35 mgGAE/gExtr, 303.97 µgCy3G/gExtr, 37.28 mgQE/gExtr, 56.48 mgGAE/gExtr, and 5.72 mmolTE/gExtr, respectively (according to the adopted reference). All results were compared with those obtained using a conventional protocol. In addition, the potential for water recycling by means of downstream nanofiltration in optimised MAE was investigated, leading to overall water reuse of approx. 75%. Power consumption (20.92 W/mgGAE) and common green metrics, Reaction Mass Efficiency (RME), E-Factor, and the Process Mass Intensiti/efficiency (PMI, PME), were considered in evaluating the proposed PP valorisation strategy. Finally, the biological activities of the main products were assessed. The antimicrobial properties of the PP extracts against three Gram-positive and three Gram-negative bacteria and their antiproliferative activity towards human cancer cells were tested. S. aureus bacteria was the most susceptible to the PP extracts. All tested products displayed antiproliferative activity against HeLa cells when higher concentrations were tested, with D-PP/NF (obtained from dried PP and sequential nanofiltration) being the most effective. This result was also confirmed via clonogenic analysis, which generally indicated the possible anti-cancer activity of pomegranate peel extracts obtained using this green approach.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: European Scholar > Agricultural and Food Science
Depositing User: Managing Editor
Date Deposited: 28 Dec 2023 04:25
Last Modified: 28 Dec 2023 04:25
URI: http://article.publish4promo.com/id/eprint/3180

Actions (login required)

View Item
View Item