A review on phytochemicals, metabolic profiles and pharmacokinetics studies of the different parts (juice, seeds, peel, flowers, leaves and bark) of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.)

Abstract

Pomegranate is a fruit-bearing tree. Pomegranate flowers, leaves, bark, fruit juice, peel and seeds were reported to have pharmacological effects. Recently, the researches about phytochemicals, metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies of different parts of pomegranate were carried out. There is a lack of summary on different parts of pomegranate. Furthermore, we were interested in potential correlations and differences on the phytochemicals, metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies between the different parts of pomegranate.

This review is aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of reported researches on different parts of pomegranate about phytochemicals, metabolism and pharmacokinetics studies. Besides, we introduced analysis strategies for identifying phytochemicals in foods/plants and metabolites in biosamples using LC–HR MSⁿ techniques. Furthermore, we firstly speculated structures and the maximum number of constitutional isomers of ellagitannins and gallotannins. This review is helpful for further application to discover more active compounds and their metabolites from pomegranate and other plants/foods.