Optimisation of the Green Process of Industrial Hemp-Preparation and Its Extract Characterisation

Plants (Basel). 2022 Jun 30;11(13):1749. doi: 10.3390/plants11131749.

Abstract

Natural medicines and products are becoming increasingly important in the pharmaceutical and food industries. The most important step in obtaining a natural remedy is the processing of the natural material. This study offers the separation of the industrial hemp plant into fractions by mechanical treatment, which has a significant impact on the selectivity of the obtained fractions. This study also offers a solution to reduce waste by fractionating industrial hemp, focusing on the fraction with the highest cannabinoid content (49.5% of CBD). The study confirmed the anticancer potential of the extract, which prevents further division of WM-266-4 melanoma cells at a concentration of 10-3 mg/mL. However, application of the extract (c = 10-3 mg/mL) to normal human epidermal melanocytes proved to be insignificant, as the metabolic activity of the cells was the same as in the control cell group.

Keywords: WM-266-4; melanoma cells; supercritical fluid extraction; ultrasonic extraction.