Wild plants like nutraceuticals sources:
\nINNOVATIVE EXTRACTION, ENCAPSULATION IN W/O AND
\nO/W EMULSION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE
\nPIGMENTS FROM OPUNTIA FICUS INDICA FRUIT

The use and exploitation of plants widely disseminated, which contain bioactive compounds (nutraceuticals), could be the best way to have beneficial effects
\non health; this also could reduces the environmental impact of transport on long distance of fruits and vegetables, that often involving the loss of nutritional
\nproperties of the products.
\nOpuntia ficus-indica is a plant endemic of South America, wild and invasive and it produces an edible fruit, that it grows on the flat pads of the cactus (Fig.1).
\nThe fruit is a berry and varying in colour(Fig.2), it develops green (less sweet), becomes orange-yellow and at the end the colour is reddish purple (very sweet).
\nThis is reach in betalains, has an application in the low acid foods as natural colorants [1]. It is often used to make candies and jelly or added on drinks such
\nlemonade; its pulp and juice have been used to treat a lot of diseases, such as wounds and inflammations of the digestive and urinary tract in folk medicine.
\nBetalains are water-soluble nitrogenous pigments. They can be divided into two structural groups, the red to red-violet betacyanins (Latin-Beta, beet and
\nGreek-kyanos, blue color) and the yellow betaxanthins (Latin-Beta, beet and Greek-xanthos, yellow) (Fig. 3). The most important source of betanin (Fig. 4) as
\ncolouring agent is the red beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris) root.
\n1. Plant Opuntia ficus indica (L.) Mill. 2. Different cultivar of Opuntia ficus-indica
\n[1] Maran J.P. and Manikandan S. (2012). “Response surface modeling and optimization of process parameters for aqueous extraction of pigments from prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) fruit”. Dyes and Pigments, 95: 465-472.
\n[2] Romo-Hualde A.; Yetano-Cunchillos A.I.; González-Ferrero C.; M.J. Sáiz-Abajo; González-Navarro C.J. (2012). Supercritical fluid extraction and microencapsulation of bioactive compounds from red pepper (Capsicum annum L.)
\nby-products. Food Chemistry, 133, 1045–1049.
\n[3] Fernández-López J.A., Almela L. (2001). Application of high-performance liquid chromatography to the characterization of the betalain pigments in prickly pear fruits. Journal of Chromatography, A (913) 415–420.
\n[4] Spizzirri G.U., Cirillo G., Curcio M., Altimari I., Picci N., Iemma F. (2013). “Stabilization of oxidable vitamins by flavonoid-based hydrogels”. Reactive & Functional Polymers, 73: 1030–1037.
\n[5] Abdalla A.E., Roozen J.P. (1999). “Effect of plant extracts on the oxidative stability of sunfower oil and emulsion”. Food Chemistry, 64: 323-329.
\nWild plants like nutraceuticals sources:
\nINNOVATIVE EXTRACTION, ENCAPSULATION IN W/O AND
\nO/W EMULSION AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF BIOACTIVE
\nPIGMENTS FROM OPUNTIA FICUS INDICA FRUIT
\nIn this work has been investigated the possibility of phytochemicals
\nextraction by using the supercritical fluids extraction (SFE) with CO2 from
\nfruits, optimizing the selectivity between them and other substances
\npresents in the vegetal matrix.
\nSupercritical fluid technology is nowadays the most innovative method for
\npreparing bioactive products used as supplements and for the preparation
\nof products for children since the extract is free of solvent traces (the CO2
\ndiffuses at room temperature).
\nThe extracts obtained by SFE-CO2 are “Generally Recognized As Safe
\n(GRAS)” by the American Food and Drugs Administration, they can be
\nadded to any food [2].
\nMaterials and Methods
\n5. Collection and peel of
\nOpuntia ficus-indica fruits
\nOpuntia
\nficus-indica
\nFruits
\nFirst Harvesting
\n(November 2012)
\nSecond Harvesting
\n(December 2012)
\nThird
\nHarvesting
\n(October 2013)
\npH 5,68±0,08 5,73±0,04 5,71±0,02
\naw 0,928±0,002 0,934±0,005 0,921±0,003
\n°Bx 15,0±0,1 14,8±0,2 15,2±0,1
\nUW.b 83,98±0,17 84,37±0,24 83,62±0,08
\n10. Pulp homogenized from fruit
\nDifferent solvent extraction
\nStirred centrifugation filtration
\n3. The chromophore of betalains (1), the aglycone of most of
\nbetacyanins (2), and a proline-containing betaxanthin (3).
\nSpectrophotometric analysis
\nof extracts
\nBetacyanins content was
\nexpressed as betanin content
\n(molar mass M = 551,48 g/mol).
\nWavelength was setted to 527
\nnm (Fig. 8).
\nHPLC analysis of extract
\nThe analysis of all extracts both
\nfrom solvent extraction and
\nbelonged from SFE were carried
\nout by means of HPLC using a
\nSmartline HPLC system (Fig. 9).
\nChromatographic separation
\nwas carried out using a 2,0 mm
\nID ×150 mm L, with precolumn,
\nC-18 TSKgel ODS-100 V, 21810.
\nExtraction of betalains with supercritical fluids
\nAll samples after collection were previously cleaned and peeled,
\nhomogenized and frozen; at the time of the analysis; some of
\nthem were centrifuged, other partially dried and added with
\ndifferent sand Ottawa and Diatomee, in order to maximize the
\nyields of extraction.
\nThe supercritical extractions by CO2 were performed on a Spe-ed
\nSFE 4 extractor (Fig. 7). Flow CO2= 1.5 L/min.
\n• extra virgin olive oil 20w/w%
\n• Tween 60
\n• buffer solution
\n• CaCl2;
\n• pectin L.M.
\n• ethanol
\nEMU CPFE
\nEMU STD
\n+
\nextract purified of
\nOpuntia ficus-indica
\nEMU STD EMU VIT E
\nEMU STD
\n+
\nVitamin E
\n• extra virgin olive oil 70w/w%
\n• mono- and diglycerides of
\n• fatty acids
\n• NaCl 0,1 M
\nEMU CPFE
\nEMU STD
\n+
\nextract purified of
\nOpuntia ficus-indica
\nEMU STD EMU VIT E
\nEMU STD
\n+
\nVitamin E
\nPreparaions of emulsion oil in water (O/W) and water in oil (W/O)
\nPurification of extract (CPFE): the pulp fruit was homogenized, centrifuged and precipitated with
\nacetone; then filtrated with a PTFE siringe. The emulsification was performed using a rotor stator
\nsystem (Ultra Turrax T 50).
\nAntioxidant activity
\nThe antioxidant properties of all emulsions (O/W and W/O), at
\nfour different times after preparations (t0= 1 day; t1= 5 days; t2=
\n10 days; t3= 15 days), were evaluated by measurement of the
\nscavenging activity towards DPPH and ABTS radicals.
\nDPPH Assay
\n(2,2′-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl)
\nλ=517 nm
\nABTS Assay
\n[2,2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)]
\nλ=734 nm
\nDPPH and ABTS radicals inhibition in O/W emulsions DPPH and ABTS radicals inhibition in W/O emulsions
\nThe homogenised mix (Fig. 10)
\nwas prepared to measure the
\nlevel of acidity of the primary
\nsource, brix degrees, water
\nactivity and humidity.
\nThe measurements of water activity and humidity are a key
\nparameter in the quality control of moisture-sensitive
\nproducts.
\nPreliminary analysis of pulp
\n4. Molecular structure of betanin present
\nin red beet root

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