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. 2024 Oct 8;25(19):10816.
doi: 10.3390/ijms251910816.

Lepidium peruvianum as a Source of Compounds with Anticancer and Cosmetic Applications

Dorota Kasprzak  1 , Katarzyna Gaweł-Bęben  2 , Wirginia Kukula-Koch  3 , Marcelina Strzępek-Gomółka  2 , Anna Wawruszak  4 , Sylwia Woźniak  5 , Marcelina Chrzanowska  6 , Karolina Czech  2 , Julia Borzyszkowska-Bukowska  6 , Kazimierz Głowniak  2 , Dariusz Matosiuk  5 , Rita Cristina Orihuela-Campos  7 , Barbara Jodłowska-Jędrych  8 , Tomasz Laskowski  6 , Henry O Meissner  9
Affiliations

Lepidium peruvianum as a Source of Compounds with Anticancer and Cosmetic Applications

Dorota Kasprzak et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Lepidium peruvianum-an edible herbaceous biennial plant distributed in the Andes-has been used for centuries as food and as a natural medicine in treating hormonal disorders, as an antidepressant, and as an anti-osteoporotic agent. The presented study aims to prove its beneficial cosmetic and chemopreventive properties by testing the antiradical, whitening, cytotoxic, and anticancer properties of differently colored phenotypes that were extracted using three solvents: methanol, water, and chloroform, with the help of the chemometric approach to provide evidence on the impact of single glucosinolanes (seven identified compounds in the HPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS analysis) on the biological activity of the total extracts. The tested extracts exhibited moderate antiradical activity, with the methanolic extract from yellow and grey maca phenotypes scavenging 49.9 ± 8.96% and 48.8% ± 0.44% of DPPH radical solution at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, respectively. Grey maca was the most active tyrosinase inhibitor, with 72.86 ± 3.42% of the enzyme activity calculated for the water extract and 75.66 ± 6.21% for the chloroform extract. The studies in cells showed no cytotoxicity towards the human keratinocyte line HaCaT in all studied extracts and a marked inhibition of cell viability towards the G361 melanoma cell line, which the presence of pent-4-enylglucosinolate, glucotropaeolin, and glucoalyssin in the samples could have caused. Given all biological activity tests combined, the three mentioned compounds were shown to be the most significant positive contributors to the results obtained, and the grey maca water extract was found to be the best source of the former compound among the tested samples.

Keywords: Lepidium meyenii; antioxidants; cancer; cosmetics; glucosinolanes; glucotropaeolin; skin; tyrosinase inhibitors.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The plant material was collected personally by Professor Henry O. Meissner during an expedition to the plantation where maca was cultivated and hand-picked during the annual harvest under the supervision of the owner of the plantation from whom the plant material was obtained, in full understanding that the samples taken were intended for complex analyses in laboratories in Poland by a group of scientists who are co-authors of this paper. The expedition was organized and financed by Professor Henry O. Meissner, who also helped with the collection and preliminary technical processing of the plant material from the plantation. The authors disclose no potential conflict of interest that could be related to the TTD company.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The total ion chromatograms of the black phenotype of Lepidium peruvianum were recorded in the negative (above) and positive (below) ion modes.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Percentage of glucotropaeolin content in the investigated L. meyenii water extracts (n = 3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Principal component analysis of the analyzed extracts.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The antiradical potential of differently colored phenotypes of maca and the extracts of different polarity studied in the DPPH in vitro assay (MetOH—methanol, H2O—water, CHL—chloroform extracts) in comparison with vitamin C; graphs show mean value ± SD; n = 3.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The influence of chlorophormic extract (CHL, 500 µg/mL) from differently colored maca phenotypes on intracellular ROS levels of HaCaT keratinocytes treated with 1 mM H2O2; 2 mM N-acetycysteine (NAC) was used as a control antioxidant; graphs show representative values (mean ± SD) for one out of three experiments.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Tyrosinase inhibitory properties of maca extracts studied in mushroom and murine tyrosinase assays—in the left column, monophenolase activity of mushroom tyrosinase; in the middle column, mushroom tyrosinase diphenolase activity; and in the right column, murine tyrosinase and diphenolase activity. Kojic acid was tested as tyrosinase inhibitory control; histograms show mean activity ±SD, n = 3; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The results of the evaluation of the relationships between the content of individual components and the tyrosinase inhibition and antioxidant properties of the total extract.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The results of the cell viability assay of the tested Lepidium meyenii methanol (MetOH), water (H2O), and chloroform (CHL) extracts on the following cell lines: HaCaT keratinocyte, SH4, and G361 melanoma cells following 48 h of treatment; 5′-fluorouracil (5FU) was used as the control chemotherapeutic agent; graphs show the mean viability ±SD; n = 3.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The results of evaluating the relationships between the content of individual components and the impact of the total extract on the tested cell lines—HaCaT, SH4, and G361—at concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 µg/mL. Negative coefficients (blue) state the stimulation of cell growth, and positive coefficients (red) suggest toxicity for cell lines.
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