Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus L) Anthocyanins as Ingredients for functional Foods

In the last years many studies on anthocyanins have revealed their antioxidant activity and a possible use as chemoterapeutics. The finding that tart cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) contain a great amount of anthocyanins that possess strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities has attracted much attention to this species. Here we report the preliminary results of the induction of anthocyanin biosynthesis in sour cherry callus cell cultures. The evaluation and characterization of the in vitro produced pigments is compared to the anthocyanins found in vivo in fruits of several sour cherry cultivar. Interestingly, the anthocyanin profiles found in fruit extracts are similar in all tested genotypes, but are different in respect to the callus extract. The evaluation of antioxidant activity, performed by ORAC and TEAC assays, revealed an antioxidant capacity quite high for the fruit extracts (from 11.45 to 25.92 mmol TE/ g FW) and lower for callus extract (6.88 mmol TE/ g FW).