Water-soluble polysaccharides from Opuntia stricta Haw. fruit peels: recovery, identification and evaluation of their antioxidant activities**

Abstract

[Opuntia stricta] Haw. is considered as one of the most common cactus plant growing in Tunisia. Extracting valuable compounds from its fruit peel, considered as by-product, is drawing more and more attention, making it on the verge of commercialization. Water-soluble polysaccharides were extracted from [Opuntia stricta] Haw. peels, and their chemical composition assessed using thin layer chromatography. The antioxidant activities of the extracted polysaccharides were assessed using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity and reducing power capacity. The extraction yield of water-soluble polysaccharides was 7.53±0.86%. The chemical composition revealed the presence of rhamnose, arabinose, glucose, mannose, galactose and galacturonic acid. The infra-red spectroscopic analysis showed a similar structure to that of [Opuntia ficus-indica] polysaccharide peels. Additionally, the extracted polysaccharides exhibited high antioxidant activities. In fact, the free radical scavenging activity (half inhibition concentration = 6.5 mg ml[-1] with 94.9% inhibition at 50 mg ml[-1]), the total antioxidant activity (100 μg ascorbic acid equivalent at 50 mg polysaccharides) and the reducing power capacity (absorbance 700 nm = 0.7 at 50 mg ml[-1]), appeared to be interesting compared to natural and synthetic antioxidants. Therefore, water-soluble polysaccharides from [Opuntia stricta] Haw. fruit peels could be a natural alternative to replace synthetic antioxidants.