Characterisation and preliminary bioactivity determination of Berberis boliviana Lechler fruit anthocyanins

Berberis boliviana Lechler is a member of the Berberidaceae family that has a small edible red-purple berry. The plant is native to the Peruvian Andes and contains high amounts of anthocyanin pigments. The monomeric anthocyanin content, determined by a pH-differential method, was 7/100 g of seedless berries. Pigments were characterised by HPLC coupled to a photodiode array (PDA) and mass spectrophotometer (MS) detectors. Five aglycones and ten anthocyanins were found and identified as petunidin-3-glucoside (24.4%), delphinidin-3-glucoside (24.1%), malvidin-3-glucoside (22.1%), cyanidin-3-glucoside (10.2%), petunidin-3-rutinoside (7.15%), malvidin-3-rutinoside (4.9%), cyanidin-3-rutinoside (3.8%), delphinidin-3-rutinoside (2.6%), peonidin-3-glucoside (1.1%), and peonidin-3-rutinoside (0.9%).The brine shrimp lethality test (BST) with Artemia salina Leach showed a median lethal concentration (MLC) of 247 μg/ml of B. boliviana L. pigments, suggesting that they should be considered for further pharmacological studies.

► Pigment content of an Andean berry, Berberis boliviana, were quantified and characterized.
► Anthocyanins were non-acylated glucoside or rutinoside derivatives of 5 different aglycones.
► Pigment content was 7% of the dry pulp, or 1.5% of the fresh fruit weight.
► To the best of our knowledge this is the fruit with highest pigment content reported to date.
► Further studies are recommended to explore bioactivity of the fruit.