Chemical Composition and Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory, and Antiproliferation Activities of Pomegranate (Punica granatum) Flowers

The chemical composition, antioxidant (DPPH and ABTS assays), anti-inflammatory (5-LOX), and cytotoxic (MCF-7) activities from flowers of seven pomegranate varieties (Punica granatum) were investigated. The highest phenolics (330.9 +/- 11.3 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight (dw)), flavonoids (29.5 +/- 0.8 mg quercetin equivalent/g dw), tannins (30.6 +/- 0.6 mg catechin equivalent/g dw), and anthocyanins (0.70 +/- 0.03 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalent/g dw) content were determined in the Chetoui (CH) variety. It was found that Garsi (GR) (IC50 = 4.9-0.2 mg/L by ABTS assay) and Zaghwani (ZG) (IC50 = 3.9 +/- 0.2 mg/L by ABTS assay) varieties exhibited the highest antioxidant activity. For the anti-inflammatory activity, all varieties were active; the ZH variety was the strongest (2.5 +/- 0.1 mg/L). The CH, ES, and RA pomegranate varieties were not active against human breast cancer cells MCF-7, whereas inhibition was more evident with extracts from ZH and GR varieties (IC50 = 33.00 +/- 2.64 and 35.00 +/- 4.58 mg/L, respectively). Statistical analysis showed that the variety factor influenced significantly (P<.01) the chemical composition and biological activities of pomegranate flowers.