Abstract
This study investigates the cytotoxicity of polysaccharides from fermented and unfermented cotyledon and coat of A. squamosa seed. Fresh and ripe sugar apple fruits were collected from an orchard at Ota-Efun, Olorunda Local Government, Osogbo, Nigeria (070 32 30.2496 N, 040 31 41.7036 E) and authenticated at IFE Herbarium, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The seeds were divided into two portions: a portion was fermented and the second portion was unfermented seeds. The cotyledon and the coat of both the fermented and unfermented seeds were separated and each was defatted with n-hexane. Water-soluble polysaccharides were extracted from the defatted samples according to standard procedure to give fermented cotyledon polysaccharides (FCP), fermented seed coat polysaccharides (FSCP), unfermented cotyledon polysaccharides (UCP), and unfermented seed coat polysaccharides (UFSCP). Monosaccharides, hexosamines, and uronic acids components in the polysaccharides were estimated using HPLC. Cytotoxicity activities of the polysaccharides were also investigated using standard methods. The percentage yield of the extracted polysaccharides showed the unfermented cotyledon and seed coat having higher yields than their counterpart unfermented. The results of the HPLC analysis showed that unfermented had the highest concentrations of hexoses, uronic acids and hexosamines. Brine shrimp lethality bioassay revealed the strong cytotoxic potentials of the polysaccharides with the least activities in unfermented seed coat polysaccharides (USCP) and highest activities in the fermented cotyledon polysaccharides (FCP). The study concluded that polysaccharides from cotyledon and coat of fermented and unfermented A. squamosa seed are good leads in the search for anticancer agents.
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Keywords: Brine shrimp, cancer, bioactive, natural products, tumour
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