Content determination of benzyl glucosinolate and anti-cancer activity of its hydrolysis product in Carica papaya L.

Objective: To determine the content of benzyl glucosinolate (BG) in the pulp and the seed and investigate the anti-cancer activity of its hydrolysis product in Carica papaya L.

Methods: Determination of BG was performed on an Hypersil BDS C(18) column at the wavelength of 214 nm with 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) aqueous solution (A) and 0.1%TFA acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase. In vitro activity test was adopted with cultured human lung cancer H69 cell in vitro to investigate the inhibition rate of cell proliferation of benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) against H69 cell.

Results: The pulp has more BG before the maturation of papaya and it nearly disappeared after papaya matured, while the seed contains BG at every stage. Activity test demonstrated that the a higher concentration of BITC would have better inhibition rate of cell proliferation on H69 cell, and the IC(50) was 6.5 μmol/L.

Conclusions: BG also can be produced in the pulp of papaya and it will be stored in the seed after the fruit has been matured. The hydrolysis product of BG has certain cancer-prevention anti-cancer activities for human.