Chemometric discrimination of Hylocereus undulatus from different geographical origins via their metabolic profiling and antidiabetic activity

Hylocereus spp. known as dragon fruit is an exotic fruit that belongs to the Cactaceae family. LC-QTOF-MS and multivariate statistical tools were established to analyze differences in the composition of dragon fruit peel and pulp from Egypt, Germany, Philippines, and China. The alpha-glucosidase inhibitory effects of different extracts were carried out along with the anti-glycation end products (AGE) using BSA-fructose, BSA-methylglyoxal, and arginine-methylglyoxal assays. In addition, the total antioxidant capacity was investigated as a complementary mechanism to AGE formation. Principal component analysis revealed that dragon fruits from China and Egypt were the most distinct among all samples due to betalains content. Orthogonal projection to latent structures -discriminant analysis identified 16 compounds highly correlated to the antiglycation activity such as betanin, gamma-aminobutyric acid, neobetanin, and portulacaxanthin II. Pulp extracts were more active than peels as inhibitors of alpha-glucosidase. While peels were more active as AGE formation inhibitors and as antioxidants.

Automated summary

In this study, LC-QTOF-MS and multivariate statistical tools were used to analyze the composition differences of dragon fruit peel and pulp from Egypt, Germany, Philippines, and China. It was found that dragon fruits from China and Egypt were the most distinct due to their high betalains content. Moreover, different extracts from dragon fruit showed different activities as inhibitors of alpha-glucosidase and AGE formation, as well as antioxidants.