A metabolomic approach to new sources of natural bioactive compounds and their relationship to in vitro scavenging features for reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNs) species

• Grant number: 14/07934-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2014
• End date: December 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Science
• Principal Investigator: Adriana Zerlotti Mercadante
• Grantee: Enrique Sentandreu Vicente
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos (FEA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07914-8 - FoRC - Food Research Center, AP.CEPID

Abstract

Nowadays, despite the well-known antioxidant carotenoids, polyphenols and vitamins have already been determined in a wide range of natural sources, their presence in many native or adapted Brazilian fruits still remains unknown. Moreover, the literature about the in vitro scavenging features of the extracts from such typical fruits against reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS, respectively), as well as the bioavailability of the bioactive compounds involved, is very limited. Hence, this project aims to elucidate new sources of antioxidants, with special attention to carotenoids, polyphenols and vitamins, through the study of fruits from peculiar Brazilian cultivars, such as yellow mombin (Spondias lutea), jelly palm (Butia eriospatha), feijoa (Feijoa sellowiana Berg), black (Rubus spp) and wild (Morus nigra L.) blackberry, grumixama (Eugenia brasiliensis Lam) and orange (Citrus sinensis). The systematic characterization of fruits will be carried out by an untargeted metabolomic approach of carotenoids, polyphenols and vitamins using high performance liquid chromatography analysis coupled to diode array and tandem mass spectrometry detection (HPLC-DAD-MSn), while sugars, organic acids and amino acids would be determined (as their respective trimethylsilyl, TMS, derivatives) by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Moreover, the characteristic in vitro scavenging activities of the considered extracts against specific ROS and RNS will be also studied in detail. The expected contribution from this work is related to the socio-economic development by stimulating the sustainable use of the Brazilian natural resources, such as fruit extracts rich in bioactive compounds, by the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BERTO, ALESSANDRA; RIBEIRO, ALESSANDRA BRAGA; SENTANDREU, ENRIQUE; DE SOUZA, NILSON EVELAZIO; MERCADANTE, ADRIANA ZERLOTTI; CHISTE, RENAN CAMPOS; FERNANDES, EDUARDA. The seed of the Amazonian fruit Couepia bracteosa exhibits higher scavenging capacity against ROS and RNS than its shell and pulp extracts. FOOD & FUNCTION, v. 6, n. 9, p. 3081-3090, 2015. (13/07914-8, 14/07934-1)