Anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin from Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Ell.: Purification, fractionation, and enzyme inhibition

Aronia melanocarpa (Michx.) Ell. is a rich source of anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins with confirmed health benefits. Individual cyanidin glucosides (cyanidin 3‐galactoside, cyanidin 3‐arabinoside, cyanidin 3‐xyloside, and cyanidin 3‐glucoside) of anthocyanins (calculated by individual cyanin glycoside fractions was 419.9 mg/100 g FW) were isolated by Sephadex LH‐20 column and different parts of proanthocyanidins with a different mean degree of polymerization (mDP) were fractionated by the solubility differences in different solvents. The composition of different mDP of proanthocyanidins was as follows: monomers (1.51%), oligomer (mDP of 4.2 ± 0.9, 20.57%), CPP‐50 (mDP of 78.9 ± 4.1, 22.17%), CPP‐60 (mDP of 66.1 ± 1.2, 27.94%), CPP‐70 (mDP of 36.8 ± 3.9, 36.8%), CPP‐75 (mDP of 25.2 ± 1.3, 6.14%), CPP‐L (mDP of 10.2 ± 2.6, 6.95%), and there were recycling loss of 0.34%. Cyanidin 3‐glucoside showed the strongest inhibition effects on α‐amylase and lipase and cyanidin 3‐arabinoside showed the strongest inhibition effect on α‐glucosidase, while cyanidin 3‐xyloside has no inhibition effect on the α‐amylase, and cyanidin 3‐galactoside, cyanidin 3‐arabinoside, and cyanidin 3‐xyloside have no inhibition effects on lipase. The inhibition effect of proanthocyanidins with different mDP to the enzymes all showed high negative correlations between the mDP and IC(50) (half‐maximal inhibitory concentration). This study suggests that A. melanocarpa (Michx.) Ell. can have beneficial effects due to inhibition of the digestion enzyme.