Isolation of three cyanins from Lonicera caerulea L. fruits and its anticancer activity

Lonicera caerulea L. fruit is an excellent source of bioactive compounds. An efficient separation method of cyanins is important for the development of many value-added products and functional food ingredients. High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was applied to isolate cyanins from Lonicera caerulea fruits with a biphasic solvent system composed of methyl tert-butyl ether/n-butanol/acetonitrile/water/trifluoroacetic acid (2:2:1:5:0.01, volume ratio). 1.41 mg of cyanidin 3, 5-O-diglucoside, 1.08 mg of cyanidin 3-O-rutinoside and 6.38 mg of cyanidin 3-O-glucoside were obtained from 40 mg of crude extract. The purities of these compounds were 95.8%, 92.4% and 97.6%, respectively, as identified by high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometryn (HPLC-ESI/MSn). In addition, the dominant anthocyanin, cyanidin 3-O-glucoside was demonstrated cytotoxic response of human hepatocarcinoma SMMC-7721 cells, inducing live cancer cell apoptotic by flow cytometric analysis.