Phytochemical Analysis, Antioxidant and Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Activities of Fruit Pulps of Selected Banana Varieties

This study focused on qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytochemicals and the study of antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activities of fruit pulps of three abundant banana varieties grown in Sri Lanka. Aqueous, ethanol, ethyl acetate and hexane extracts of nearly three-month-old fruit pulps of Musa accuminata AAA, Musa accuminata AAB and Musa balbisiana ABB were prepared by shaking fresh, chopped banana pulps in the above-mentioned solvents separately. The standard spectrophotometric methods were used to quantify the alkaloids, flavonoids, condensed tannins and phenolic compounds contents of four solvent extracts of each banana variety. Among them, the ethanol extract of M. accuminata AAB possessed the highest total alkaloid content, while the ethanol extract of M. balbisiana ABB exhibited the highest total flavonoid content, total condensed tannin content and total phenolic content. The antioxidant and AChE inhibitory activities of each banana variety were determined using standard 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Ellman’s colorimetric assays, respectively. The ethanol extracts of M. accuminata AAB and M. balbisiana ABB demonstrated the highest antioxidant activity and AChE inhibitory activity, respectively. This reporting study revealed that M. balbisiana ABB and M. accuminata AAB could be recommended as promising sources of edible natural antioxidants and AChE inhibitors, respectively.