Bioactive compounds and antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of korean white lotus cultivars

Yong Seo Park, Korsak Towantakavanit, Teresa Kowalska, Soon Teck Jung, Kyung Sik Ham, Buk Gu Heo, Ja Yong Cho, Jae Gill Yun, Hyun Ju Kim, Shela Gorinstein*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

In traditional Korean medicine, lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn) roots have been used as an antidiabetic and an antiproliferative remedy. However, scientific publications on lotus properties are very limited. Therefore, it was decided to investigate the Korean white lotus cultivars in order to find out their bioactivity. It was found that all lotus cultivars (Inchisa, Muan, Garam, and Chungyang) possess high amounts of bioactive compounds: total phenols, between 7.95±0.8 and 4.21±0.3mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight (DW); ascorbic acid, between 15.8±1.1 and 22.3±1.7mg of ascorbic acid/g DW; and amino acids, between 15.05±0.82% and 16.62±0.90% DW. The highest contents of polyphenols (7.95±0.8mg of GAE/g DW) and the highest levels of antioxidant [by 2,2-azino-bis(3- ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl assays, 54.27±6.1 and 21.98±2.5μM Trolox equivalents/g DW, respectively] and antiproliferative activities on both human cancer cell lines (Calu-6 for human pulmonary carcinoma and SMU-601 for human gastric carcinoma, 59.75±3.99% and 71.21±2.79% cell viability, respectively) were found in the Chungyang cultivar. Fluorometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy can be applied as rapid methods for determination of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols. The correlation between the bioactive compounds and the antioxidant activity was high. In conclusion, all Korean white lotus cultivars are valuable medicinal foods, and in order to receive the best results a combination of lotus cultivars has to be consumed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1057-1064
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Medicinal Food
Volume12
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2009

Keywords

  • Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities
  • Bioactive compounds
  • Korean white lotus cultivars

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