Ora-pro-nobis (Pereskia aculeata), an emerging unconventional food plant belonging to the Cactaceae family, is known as a source of protein with high nutritional value, traditionally used in folk medicine. In this study, different compressed fluid technologies were used to obtain antioxidant rich extracts from P. aculeata leaves. The recovered extracts from ora-pro-nobis leaves showed, in general, high antioxidant potential in DPPH and FRAP in vitro assays. Complementary, supercritical fluid extracts presented acetylcholinesterase inhibition and anti-inflammatory activity. Overall, 11 compounds were identified from the non-polar extracts belonging to terpenoids and phenolic compounds. Metabolites like 2,4-Ditert-butylphenol, β-sitosterol, campesterol, phytol, Vitamin E were already identified in other Pereskia sp. extracts, but compounds like fucosterol and lupeol were also tentatively identified in the present study. Terpenes and phenolic compounds are known for its biological activities, which shows the potentiality of the P. aculeata leaves extracts recovery by compressed fluids technologies.

The authors are grateful to the following agencies for the financial support: CNPq (National Council of Technological and Scientific Development, Brazil), Project 404347/2016-9; CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher-Level Personnel, Brazil), projects CAPES/PROEX-1624/2018 and CAPES/PRINT88887.310560/2018-00; and MINECO (Ministery of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain), project AGL2017-89417-R. We are also grateful to LAMEB (Laboratório Multiusuário de Estudos em Biologia), from Biological Sciences Center (CCB) of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC, Brazil). G.A.-R. would like to acknowledge MINECO for a “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral grant.

Peer reviewed