Effect of Ultrafiltration of Pitaya Extract (Stenocereus thurberi) on Its Phytochemical Content, Antioxidant Capacity, and UPLC-DAD-MS Profile

Abstract

Stenocereus thurberi is an endemic species in northwestern Mexico. It produces colorful fruits called pitayas that have an edible pulp. They have phytochemical compounds associated with biological activities. Ultrafiltration is a widely used method for the clarification of fruit juices and the recovery of phytochemicals. However, its effect has not been extensively studied in extracts. Therefore, the objective of this work is to study the effect of the ultrafiltration of pitaya extract (Stenocereus thurberi) on its phytochemical content, antioxidant capacity, and identification of phenolic compounds by UPLC-DAD-MS, providing greater knowledge about the pitaya. In this study, two extracts were analyzed, the unclarified extract (UE) and the clarified extract (CE). The antioxidant capacity was higher in the CE with 15.93 ± 0.42 mM TE/g, DPPH and 18.37 ± 0.016 mM TE/g, ABTS. The UPLC-MS analysis indicated the decrease in phenolic compounds in the CE and the presence of gallic acid and resorcinol, compounds that had not been identified in other species of Stenocereus spp. The correlation analysis indicated that all the phytochemicals present in the pitaya contribute significantly to the antioxidant capacity. The ultrafiltration process could be a viable option to improve the biological activity of the natural extracts.

Maturation Process, Nutritional Profile, Bioactivities and Utilisation in Food Products of Red Pitaya Fruits: A Review

“…Heat reflux extraction was reported to decrease the bioactivity of purified polysaccharides due to the adverse effect of high temperatures, hence an ultra-high pressure enzymatic technique was used to extract polysaccharides from red pitaya peel [32]. Results showed that the main component of polysaccharides derived from red pitaya peel was a polysaccharide with 112.94 kDa average molecular mass, 17.19% degree of esterification, 97.22% water solubility, 5.51 g/g water holding capacity and 4.52 oil holding capacity.…”

Bioactive profile of mandacaru fruits and cytotoxicity against the L929 cell line

“…To date, there are no reports on the phytochemical composition of mandacaru fruits determined by HPLC-DAD. However, other cactus fruits have been evaluated in the literature in terms of their phytochemical profile, such as pitayas (Stenocereus thurberi, Stenocereus stellatus and Stenocereus pruinosus), which contain a series of phenolic compounds such as quercetin, ferulic acid, caffeic acid and pcoumaric acid, the latter being identified in that work (Castro-Enríquez et al, 2020;García-Cruz et al, 2017).…”

Phytochemical Screening And Biological Activities Of Tamr Dry Date Variety Cultivated In Upper Egypt

“…The sugar content was estimated by the anthrone-sulfuric acid method (Castro-Enríquez et al, 2020). To quantify the dietary fibers, 1 g was ground and placed in a pre-weighed filter bag.…”