Chemopreventive Potential of Flavonoid Extracts from Plantation‐Bred and Wild <i>Aronia melanocarpa</i> (Black Chokeberry) Fruits

Abstract

ABSTRACT: European plantation‐bred (cultivated) and local Illinois (wild) Aronia melanocarpa (chokeberry) fruits were extracted with 70% aqueous acetone and separated into 6 fractions using vacuum liquid chromatography (VLC) over a Toyopearl (TP) polymer column. TP fractions 2 through 6 were recombined and further subfractionated using silica gel (SG) into 22 subfractions. Crude extract, TP fractions, and SG subfractions were screened in a L1210 murine leukemia cell assay and a human DNA catalytic topoisomerase II assay in order to gauge the cancer chemopreventive potential of each genotype. SG subfraction 6 from the cultivated genotype showed &gt;90% inhibitory activity at 25 μg/mL, and a similar fraction from the wild genotype showed &gt;95% inhibitory activity to L1210 leukemia cells at a concentration of 50 μg/mL. On the basis of topoisomerase inhibition, it can be concluded that all TP fractions of the wild genotype act as catalytic inhibitors. Similar anthocyanins and oligomeric proanthocyanidins were identified from both Aronia genotypes; however, HPLC‐ESI‐MS spectra indicated higher flavonoid concentration in the wild Aronia and a predominance (up to 67%) of nonphenolic compounds in the berries from the cultivated genotype. Both cultivated and wild genotypes exhibited promise toward chemoprevention, but differed in levels of activity in the assays used to determine chemoprotective potential.