Study on Antioxidant Activity and Cytotoxicity to A549 Cells of Korean Aronia Fruit Extracts

Abstract

The extracts of aronia (Aronia melanocarpa) fruits grown in Korea were prepared with hot water and ethanol. The functional compounds, antioxidant activity, and cytotoxicity of the ethanol extract from aronia fruit (EA) and the water extract from aronia fruit (WA) were analyzed. The contents of total polyphenol, total flavonoid, and total vitamin C of EA were significantly higher than those of WA. In the analysis of phenolic compounds using an HPLC, the rutin contents of EA and WA were 90.59 mg/100 g and 72.54 mg/100 g, respectively. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity analysis and FRAP assay. EA showed a significantly higher antioxidant activity than WA in all three analyses. The cytotoxicity to human lung cancer cells (A549) was analyzed using SRB assay. As a result of the SRB assay, the cytotoxicity of EA and WA to A549 cells at a concentration of 500 μg/mL was 68.99% and 54.25%, respectively, indicating that both EA and WA have high cytotoxicity to A549 cells. Therefore, the biological activity of aronia fruit extracts was verified through this study, and these extracts are expected to be used as functional food materials.