Puple Carrot - Anthocyanins

Technical Abstract: Anthocyanins are the brightly-colored, purple, red, and blue pigments found widely in higher plants and are responsible for the typical colors of flowers, fruit, and leaves. Anthocyanins are glycosylated and acylated derivatives of six cyanidins and vary widely among plants. Different additions to the base molecule result in compounds of varying color stability and intensity. Historically, purple color was found in carrot roots and some characterization had been done to confirm that this color was due to anthocyanins, particularly cyanidin glycosides. While variation in tone and intensity of purple color has been noted in diverse carrots, the chemical basis of this variation is unknown. Thus, the identification, quantification, and characterization of these compounds in carrot roots would be useful in a breeding effort in order to select for roots with the most stable and intense purple color. We selected roots from different breeding lines that displayed varying shades of color in a range of intensities. Pigment was extracted using EtOH/HCI and analyzed using gradient RP-HPLC. Anthocyanin profiles of the lines were compared. As anthocyanins are widely applicable as natural food coloring agents and are potent phytonutrients with high antioxidant capacity, better characterization of carrot anthocyanins will be of interest.

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Cyanidin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside suppresses nitric oxide production during a zymosan treatment in rats.

Tsuda T, Horio F, Osawa T.

Junior College Division, Tokai Gakuen University, 2-901 Nakahira, Tenpaku-ku, Nagoya 468-8514, Japan.

Anthocyanins are used for food color, and they are widely distributed in the human diets, suggesting that we ingest considerable amounts of anthocyanins from plant-based daily diets. We have demonstrated that a typical anthocyanin, cyanidin 3-O-beta-D-glucoside (C3G), suppressed the zymosan-induced inflammatory response in rats when it was orally administered. The elevation of the peritoneal exudate NOx, tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6, and the cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (CINC-1) concentrations were significantly suppressed by the administration of C3G. The zymosan treatment resulted in an increase in the serum alpha2-macroglobulin and decreases in the serum albumin and transferrin levels, which are recognized as acute phase proteins. However, these levels were normalized by the administration of C3G. The inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) protein level in the peritoneal exudate cells was markedly elevated in the control group treated with zymosan. However, the administration of C3G significantly reduced the level of iNOS in the peritoneal exudate cells. Taken altogether, our findings provide a biochemical basis for the use of C3G as a functional food factor and can also have important implications for the prevention of the NO-mediated inflammatory diseases.