Chemical composition, cancer chemopreventive and acetylcholinesterase activities of Spondias tuberosa

The Brazilian biodiversity is a source of great variety of edible fruits used as food by the local population. In most cases, these fruits have only been poorly studied for their chemical composition and biological activity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition of the pulp of Umbú (Spondias tuberosa Arr. Camara, Anacardiaceae) followed by the analysis of cancer chemopreventive and acetylcholinesterase inhibition activities. At 40 µg/ml, the methanolic extract presented high antioxidant activities in the DPPH (89%), ABTS (97%) and ORAC (64%) assays, as well as 61% inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity. The dichloromethane extract exhibited quinone reductase induction with an induction ration of 2.8 at 20 µg/ml in Hepa1c1c7 cells. The dichloromethane extract was analysed by normal phase HPLC and methanolic one carried out in C18 phase. The bioassay-guided isolation was undertaken following these various biological activities by using HPLC-microfractionation in 96 well plates and biological assays to localize the active compounds from the HPLC chromatogram in both extracts. The analytical HPLC conditions were geometrically transferred to a preparative medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) by chromatographic calculations. This method was used to isolate the active compounds from the methanolic extract. All of the MPLC fractions were monitored by UHPLC/TOF/MS provide a 2D LCxLC plot of the MPLC separation. Six compounds were isolated for the first time in this plant in a single step and a new compound derived from gallic acid was found. The structures of the isolated compounds were elucidated by classical spectroscopic methods including 2D NMR and HR-MS. Such type of studies may lead to the development of functional foods with valuable health benefits and/or may provide new natural products with interesting potential activities against anti-aging diseases.