Determination of polyphenolic constituents and biological activities of bark extracts from different Pinus species

BACKGROUND: The most common commercially available pine bark extract is Pycnogenol ® , a standardised extract of Pinus maritima , which has been reported to have cardiovascular benefits and enhance microcirculation. The present study was conducted to determine the chemical composition of four pine bark extracts, assess their biological activities and to compare the results with Pycnogenol ® . RESULTS: The Pinus species were analysed by LC and LC‐MS; extracts of P. brutia and P. nigra showed higher levels of phenolic constituents compared to P. sylvestris and P. pinea . In particular, P. brutia contained extremely high concentrations of taxifolin (18.5%). The highest radical scavenging activities were attained with P. pinea (88.6%), P. nigra (87.2%) and P. brutia (86.4%) bark extracts. Additionally, anticarcinogenic effects of the extracts and their kinetics were determined in four cell lines including human prostate (PC‐3, DU 145, LNCaP) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) by the MTT assay. Cell viability was reduced to 40% by extracts of P. pinea, and P. sylvestris in PC‐3 cells showing a similar effect like the positive control, CPT‐11. CONCLUSION: Pinus species other than P. maritima definitively possess high biological activities, and therefore present a huge potential to be utilised in the food and the pharmaceutical industries.