Opuntia ficus‐indica (L.) Mill. fruit as source of betalains with antioxidant, cytoprotective, and anti‐angiogenic properties

The aim of this work was to investigate the phytochemical profile and biological properties of different colours of betalain cactus pear extracts, evaluating their antioxidant, cytoprotective, and anti‐angiogenic properties by cell‐free, cell‐based, and in vivo assays. A QuEChERS extraction method followed by RP‐LC‐DAD‐MS/MS analysis showed that indicaxanthin and betanin were the main compounds (≥94.32% and ≥96.95%, respectively). Orange cactus pear extracts exert the best antioxidant activity in all assays carried out, in particular into ORAC (17,352.55 ± 987.407 mg trolox equivalents/100 g dry weight) and β‐carotene bleaching (60.35%) assays. The red ones, instead, showed the best cytoprotective activity decreasing the cell mortality, LDH, and Caspase‐3 release ranging from 4.0 to 55%. According to antioxidant results, the orange cactus pear extracts showing also the highest anti‐angiogenic activity (IC 50 19.31 μg/ml), followed by the red (IC 50 23.55 μg/ml) and the yellow ones (IC 50 33.97 μg/ml). In light of the results and correlation analysis, the behaviour of these molecules varies a lot according to their structure and physicochemical features and synergistic activity between betalain classes may be postulated; so the plant complex could be of greater interest compared with the isolated molecules for potential nutraceutical and pharmaceutical uses.