Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Seeds Ethanolic Extract: Chemical Characterizati on and Cytotoxic Acti vity against Human Tumor Cell Lines

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) seeds are considered a waste of pomegranate juice producti on; however, they have att racted considerable interest because they are rich of bioacti ve compounds with anti oxidant and anti -infl ammatory acti vity. Most studies reported the benefi cial eff ects of pomegranate seed oil extracted using non polar solvents, whereas litt le is known about the eff ects of an extract obtained using polar solvents. The ethanolic seed extract (ESE) was chemically characterized and its cytotoxic eff ects were evaluated on cultured human tumor cells by SRB assay. The test is based on the indirect esti mati on of the cell number by providing a sensiti ve index of total cellular protein content which is linear to cell density. Pomegranate extract was characterized by a conjugated linolenic acid, punicic acid (C18:3 D 9c,11t,13c), as the main component, followed by a-linoleic acid in the neutral lipids. The polar lipid fracti on contained a-linoleic and palmiti c as the main fatt y acids. The main glycolipid molecular species contained oleic acid and a C18:3 acid; all the main phospholipid classes were formed by the C18:2/C18:2 combinati on (by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). The polyphenolic fracti on was tentati vely characterized by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Pomegranate seeds extract exhibited a strong cytotoxic acti vity against prostate cancer cell (LNCaP) and breast cancer cell (MCF-7) with IC50 values of 8.6 and 9.6 μg/mL, respecti vely. Our results are in agreement with previous study about citotoxicity of pomegranate extract against prostate cancer cells (PC3, D145 etc). An interesti ng acti vity was observed, also, against amelanoti c melanoma (C32 cells) with IC50 value of 15.3 μg/mL