Longan fruit pericarp was extracted with 50% ethanol employing high pressure (500 MPa) and conventional
extraction methods. Total phenolic contents of high pressure-assisted extract of longan (HPEL) and
conventional extract of longan (CEL) were 20.8 and 14.6 mg gallic acid equivalents/g dry weight,
respectively. Subsequently, the antioxidant activities of these extracts were analyzed employing various
antioxidant model systems including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity,
superoxide anion radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant capacity, and lipid peroxidation inhibitory
activity. In addition, anticancer activity was also tested using HepG2, A549, and SGC 7901 cancer cell lines.
HPEL showed excellent antioxidant and anticancer activities and were higher than CEL. Three phenolic
compounds, namely gallic acid, corilagin, and ellagic acid, were identified and quantified by external
standard methods. Compared with CEL, HPEL exhibited higher extraction effectiveness in terms of higher
extraction yield, higher phenolic content, and higher antioxidant and anticancer activity with shorter
extraction time.
Industrial relevance:This study was focused to evaluate the antioxidant and anticancer activity of longan fruit
pericarp by high-pressure treatment. The high-pressure treatment provided a better way of utilizing longan
fruit pericarp as a readily accessible source of the natural anticancer and antioxidant in food and
pharmaceutical industry.