Identification and Optimization of a Novel Taxanes Extraction Process from Taxus cuspidata Needles by High-Intensity Pulsed Electric Field

Taxanes are a series of natural compounds with great application potential in antitumor therapy, whereas the lack of efficient taxanes extraction methods significantly hinders the development of taxanes. The high-intensity pulsed electric field (PEF) is a novel technology used to extract bioactive ingredients from food and other natural products. However, the prospect of using PEF for taxanes extraction remains to be elucidated. Herein, we extracted taxanes from Taxus cuspidata via PEF and explored the effects of seven extraction conditions on the yields of target compounds. The Placket–Burman design (PBD) assay revealed that electric field strength, pulse number, and particle size are key factors for taxanes extraction. The response surface methodology (RSM) and back-propagation neural network conjugated with genetic algorithm (GA-BP) were further used to model and predict the optimal extraction conditions, and GA-BP exerted higher reliability, leading to a maximum extraction yield of 672.13 μg/g under electric field strength of 16 kV/cm, pulse number of 8, particle size of 160 meshes, solid–liquid ratio of 1:60, a single extraction, centrifugal speed of 8000 r/min, and flow rate of 7 mL/min, which was 1.07–1.84 folds that of control, solid–liquid extraction (SL), and ultrasonic extraction (US) groups. Additionally, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicated that the sample particles extracted by PEF method exhibited a coarser surface morphology. Thus, we present for the first time that PEF is feasible for the extraction of taxanes from Taxus cuspidata and highlight the application value of the PBD, RSM, and GA-BP models in parameters optimization during extraction process.