Inhibition of hardy kiwifruit (Actinidia aruguta) ripening by 1-methylcyclopropene during cold storage and anticancer properties of the fruit extract

Hardy kiwifruits (Actinidia arguta) were treated with 20 mu l/l 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) for 16 h at 10 degrees C and subsequently stored at 1 +/- 0.5 degrees C. Anticancer properties of the fruit extracts were tested against five different human cancer cells. The hardy kiwifruits, without 1-MCP treatment, showed increases in both respiration and ethylene production rates during fruit storage. The 1-MCP treatment remarkably inhibited fruit ripening by reducing respiration and ethylene production. Fruits with the 1-MCP treatment could be stored for up to 5 weeks by maintaining higher fruit firmness, ascorbic acid and total phenolic contents compared to the control. The hardy kiwifruit extracts showed anti-proliferative effects to Hep3B and HeLa cells but not to HT29, HepG2 and LoVo cells. These results suggest that the application of 1-MCP at harvest effectively delayed the ripening process of the fruits, and the fruit extract had beneficial effects for the prevention of human cancer growth. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.