Identification and anti-tumour activities of phenolic compounds isolated from defatted adlay (Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) seed meal

• Main Authors: Chao Chen, Yiyi Zhang, Yulong Gao, Qian Xu, Xingrong Ju, Lifeng Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2016-10-01
• Series: Journal of Functional Foods
• Subjects: Defatted adlay seed meal; Phenolic compounds; Anti-tumour activity; N1,N5-di-[(E)-p-coumaroyl]-spermidine; Western blot analysis
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464616302262

In this work, four phenolic compounds, N1,N5-di-[(E)-p-coumaroyl]-spermidine (1), p-coumaric acid (2), ferulic acid (3), and rutin (4) were isolated from n-butanol fraction of acetone extract of defatted adlay (Coix lachryma-jobi L. var. ma-yuen Stapf) seed meal. Compound 1 was identified from adlay for the first time. The structures of these compounds were characterised by ESI-MS, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and UV–vis techniques. These compounds were evaluated for their anti-tumour activities against HepG-2, MCF-7 and CaCo-2 cancer cell lines by MTT assay. Of all purified compounds, compound 1 possessed the highest anti-tumour activity than other compounds with IC50 values between 46.34 ± 3.99 and 92.69 ± 5.63 µg/ml. Furthermore, activation of the caspase cascade in HepG-2 cells for intrinsic pathways caused by compound 1 were observed using western blot analysis. The result also showed that the expression of caspase-3, caspase-9, cytochrome c and Bax protein increased and the protein level of Bcl-2 decreased.