Bioassay-guided preparation of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory active fraction from crabapples (Malus prunifolia (Willd.) Borkh.)

The aim of current study was to optimize the extraction process and purification of main components (MC) to obtain high antioxidant, anti-inflammatory effective fractions from crabapple (Malus prunifolia (Willd.) Borkh.). The effects of three variables including ethanol concentration A1, solid-liquid ratio A2, extraction temperature A3 were investigated and optimized by response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with Box-Behnken design (BBD). The adsorption/desorption characteristics of MC on the five types of macroporous resins were investi-gated. According to batch adsorption test, HPD-300 resins were selected for kinetics. The adsorption mechanism showed that the process was appropriate by pseudo-second-order kinetics model, and purification parameters of MC were optimized through adsorption/desorption experiments with the column packed by HPD-300 resin. The effective fractions were obviously superior to other fractions according to DPPH, ABTS, COX-2 and 15-LOX radical scavenging. This work implies that the purified active fraction with high contents of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds from crabapple might be potential source for natural products and food industries.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to optimize the extraction process and purification of main components from crabapple in order to obtain effective fractions with high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The effects of three variables including ethanol concentration, solid-liquid ratio, and extraction temperature were investigated and optimized using response surface methodology and Box-Behnken design. The adsorption/desorption characteristics of the main components on different types of macroporous resins were also studied. The results suggest that the purified active fraction from crabapple could be a potential source for natural products and food industries due to its high contents of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.