Vitamin E occurrence in antioxidant pool of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill. cladodes

Several literature data report that Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes show protective effect in oxidative stress caused by various genotoxic agents such as mycotoxins, aflatoxins and cytotoxic drugs, such as cis-platinum. It's also well known that cladodes decrease the inflammatory response caused by different stimuli and show positive effects on wound healing of the skin and the gastric mucosa. All of these effects are related to the antioxidant potential of cladodes active principles like as polyphenols and flavonoids, all substances with radical scavenger effect. The aim of this work was to assess whether the vitamin complex E (tocopherols), powerful fat-soluble antioxidants, were present in the cladodes. The tocopherols were obtained from freeze-dried homogenized cladodes by extraction with hexane, after saponification. The analysis, carried out by means of normal phase HPLC, allowed to highlight significant amount of α, β and γ tocopherols (98,4, 18.3 and 2.3 mg/kg lyophilized cladode respectively). Even Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes, as well as the fruits, could be a good source of tocopherols.