Metabolic profile and cytotoxicity of non-polar extracts of pineapple leaves and chemometric analysis of different pineapple cultivars

The use of co-products from the fruit agroindustry as a source of bioactive molecules presents economic advantages, since these compounds are highly available and inexpensive. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate their qualitative chemical composition followed by multivariate analysis, and to correlate the results with those of the cytotoxicity tests. The non-polar metabolic profiles of the leaves of seven commercial pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) cultivars were investigated by using GC-MS. Twenty-seven metabolites were identified from the seven hexanic extracts. Multivariate analysis (Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, Principal Component Analysis and Partial Least Squares) revealed significant differences in the metabolic fingerprint of the different cultivars. Overall, the hexanic extracts of the seven cultivars of pineapple leaves showed promising antitumor activity against the six tumor lines tested (colon, leukemia, prostate, astrocytoma, breast and cervix). Correlation of the chemometric data, qualitative analysis, and cytotoxic tests allowed us to determine the possible biomarkers responsible for each specific antitumor activity. This study demonstrates a great valuation potential of a co-product little explored in the agroindustry of foods through the prospection of biologically active compounds.