Berberis lycium Royle (Kashmal) belongs to Berberidaceae family and it has a small edible purple berry. It is grown wildly grown in Himalaya. The berry anthocyanins were characterised by HPLC coupled to a photodiode array (PDA) and mass spectrophotometer (MS) detectors. Twelve anthocyanins were identified in the purified extract of berberis berry. Two anthocyanins delphinidin-3-glucoside (35.3 %) and cyanidin-3-glucoside (47.2 %) were characterized as major components. Ten minor anthocyanins were Cyanidin-3-lathyroside (0.08 %), Cyanidin-3-rutinoside (0.53 %), Cyanidin-3-galactoside (1.62 %), Pelargonidin-3-pentoxilhexoside (2.26 %), Malvidin-3,5-dihexoside (4.21 %), Pelargonidin-hexoside (0.58 %), Pelargonidin- 3,5-diglucoside (1.05 %), Cyanidin-3,5-dihexoside (6.12 %), peonidin-3-rutinoside (0.77 %), pelargonidin-3-rutinoside (0.22 %). Apart from anthocyanins, six phenolics were also identified as chlorogenic acid, coumaric acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, vanillic acid and quercetin. Antioxidant activity evaluated by DPPH assay revealed IC50 value of anthocyanin was 25.3 μg ml(-1). FRAP and CUPRAC assay also gave significant antioxidant activity. MTT assay gave the absorbance of 0.53 at 250 μg ml(-1). It may be concluded that the wild berry should be exploited as a source of nutraceuticals for its constitutive phenolics and its activity.
Keywords: Anthocyanins; Antioxidant; Berberis lycium; LC-MS characterization; MTT assay.