Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Açaí) seed bioproducts

Abstract

Euterpe oleracea Mart. is a tropical palm tree native to the Amazon region. Its fruit, commonly known as açaí, has gained widespread recognition for its therapeutic potential, driving the expansion of pharmacological studies to validate its traditional uses. Leveraging açaí seeds in research not only mitigates environmental impacts but also enables the identification of bioactive compounds with potential pharmacological applications, including drug development. Thus, the present work aims to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the hydroalcoholic extract and the ethyl acetate, hexane, dichloromethane and aqueous fractions of açaí seeds in vitro. The extract/fractions from açaí contained a significant amount of flavonoids, such as catechins and procyanidins, according to LC-MS/MS. These bioproducts showed significant antioxidant activity, with emphasis on the ethyl acetate fraction (FRAP: 4516.00 ± 58.07 Eq Trolox/g compound; DPPH: IC50 3.93 ± 0.26 μg/. mL; ABTS•+: IC50 34.65 ± 0.35 μg/mL). In addition, the compounds exhibited an anti-inflammatory action on LPS-stimulated peritoneal macrophages, with the dichloromethane fraction showing the more comprehensive inhibitory effects on NO, IL-12 and IFN-γ production, especially in the concentration of 500 μg/mL. E. oleracea seeds extract/fractions had no cytotoxic effect on peritoneal macrophages (IC50 > 500 μg/mL). These findings suggest that E. oleracea seed-derived bioproducts hold significant promise as safe and effective agents for the development of novel antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapies targeting a variety of inflammatory pathologies.

Keywords

• Antioxidant
• Anti-inflammatory
• Açaí
• Euterpe oleracea