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Sapwood of Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) as a Potential Source of Bioactive Compounds

Luísa Custódio, Ana Luísa Escapa, João Patarra, Rosa Aligué, Fernando Alberício, Nuno Rosa Neng, José Manuel Florêncio Nogueira and Anabela Romano

Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Genomics and Biotechnology (IBB/CGB), Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Ed. 8, Campus of Gambelas, 8005 139, Faro, Portugal

University of Barcelona, School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, Casano v a 143, E-08036, Barcelona, Spain

Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona Science Park, Baldiri Reixac 10, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

CIBER-BBN, Networking Centre on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine, Barcelona Science Park, Baldiri Reixac 10, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

University of Barcelona, Department of Organic Chemistry, Martí i Franqués 1-11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

School of Chemistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4001-Durban, South Africa

University of Lisbon, Faculty of Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry Department and Centre of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Campo Grande Ed. C8, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract: Methanol (ME) and hot water extracts (WE) of carob tree sapwood (Ceratonia siliqua L.) exhibited high antioxidant activity and were rich in phenolic compounds, with the main compounds identified by HPLC/DAD as gentisic acid and (-)-epicatechin. The ME displayed a high in vitro antitumor activity against human tumoural cell lines and reduced intracellular ROS production by HeLa cells after treatment with H 2O 2.
(-)-Epicatechin was shown to contribute to the cytotoxic activity of the ME. This is the first report on the biological activity of carob tree sapwood.

Keywords: Antioxidant activity; cytotoxic; gentisic acid; phenolic compounds; ROS.