Antioxidant, antiproliferative and healing properties of araticum (Annona crassiflora Mart.) peel and seed

Araticum (Annona crassiflora Mart.) is a native fruit from Brazilian Cerrado widely used by folk medicine. Nevertheless, the biological effects of its seeds and peel have not been extensively evaluated. We evaluate herein the antioxidant, antiproliferative and healing potential of araticum peel and seeds extracts. HPLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis showed flavonoids, namely epicatechin and quercetin, as the main compounds in peel and seeds extracts, respectively. These extracts showed high content of phenolic compounds (7254.46 and 97.74 mu g/g extract) and, as consequence, high antioxidant capacity. Interesting, the seeds extract was more effective than peel extract against all tested cancer cells, especially on NCI-ADR/RES (multidrug resistant ovary adenocarcinoma) cell line. In the cell migration assay by using HaCaT (keratinocyte), the seeds extract induced migration, while the peel extract showed an inhibitory effect. In this way, phenolic content could be related to antioxidant capacity, but it was not related to antiproliferative and healing effect. The araticum seeds extract showed an interesting response to in vitro biological assay although of its low content of phenolic compounds. Unidentified compounds, such as alkaloids and annonaceous acetogenins could be related to it. Araticum has potential to be used as therapeutic plant especially as antiproliferative and healing drug.