Maracujá: um alimento funcional? / Passion fruit: a functional food?

Este artigo é uma revisão bibliográfica sobre as espécies brasileiras de Passiflora (Passiflora edulis fo. flavicarpa O. Deg., P. alata Curtis e P. edulis fo. edulis). A maioria dos artigos da literatura focaliza somente as folhas de Passiflora, enquanto que esta revisão contém informações sobre a polpa, cascas e sementes dos frutos do maracujá, com destaque para a composição química, estudos nutricionais e farmacológicos. O enfoque nos frutos do maracujá fundamenta-se no amplo consumo do suco de maracujá (fresco ou industrializado) no Brasil e também nas investigações em andamento para avaliar o seu potencial uso como alimento funcional.

This paper consists of a bibliographic review of the most relevant edible Brazilian Passiflora species (Passiflora edulis fo. flavicarpa O. Deg., P. alata Curtis and P. edulis fo. edulis). Most of the reports in the literature focus solely on Passiflora leaves, whereas this review contains information about passion fruit pulp, rind and seeds, highlightening chemical composition, nutritional and pharmacological studies. The emphasis on the "maracujá" fruit is due to the extensive consumption of passion fruit juice (fresh or processed) in Brazil and on ongoing investigations into its potential as a functional food.

Distinction of the C-glycosylflavone isomer pairs orientin/isoorientin and vitexin/isovitexin using HPLC-MS exact mass measurement and in-source CID.

HPLC-MS using collision induced dissociation (CID) has been utilised for the identification of the C-glycosylflavone isomer pairs orientin/isoorientin and vitexin/isovitexin. HPLC-CID/MS analyses produced pseudo-MS/MS spectra that allowed the identification of the flavone C-glycosides. The efficient differentiation of isomers was performed by comparing the CID-MS/MS spectra (including exact mass measurements) of particular fragments from the C-glycoside unit. In order to illustrate some possibilities of these MS techniques, they were applied to the comparative analyses of extracts of Passiflora alata, P. edulis, P. incarnata and P. caerulea (Passifloraceae) that are employed as phytomedicines in Brazil and South America.

A HPTLC densitometric determination of flavonoids from Passiflora alata, P. edulis, P. incarnata and P. caerulea and comparison with HPLC method.

A high-performance thin layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method was developed in order to determine quantitatively the flavonoids in leaves of Passiflora alata, P. edulis, P. caerulea and P. incarnata. The content of orientin and isoorientin was determined, and the results were compared with those obtained using a quantitative HPLC-UV method. The latter employed rutin as standard and was developed to analyse flavonoid content from Passiflora leaves for the purpose of ensuring the quality of Passiflora phytomedicines. The results obtained using the two methods indicate that there are qualitative and quantitative differences in the flavonoids of the reference Passiflora species studied. The two methods were also employed to analyse commercial samples to illustrate their application in qualitative ('fingerprint') and quantitative determination, demonstrating their feasibility in the quality control of flavonoids from crude Passiflora drugs and phytomedicines. The HPLC conditions used are also suitable for the quantitative analysis of aqueous extracts (Passiflora infusions).