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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Grain Quality and Structure Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418259
Title: High molecular weight polyphenols from Sorghum bicolor retain higher glycation inhibition and cancer cell inhibition in vitro, compared to small molecular weight polyphenols after separation using Sephadex LH-20

Author
item SANTANA, ADINA - Kansas State University
item Peterson, Jaymi
item PERUMAL, RAMASAMY - Kansas State University
item HOON, YONG - University Of Maryland
item LEE, SEONG-HO - University Of Maryland
item SILIVERU, KALIRAMESH - Kansas State University
item Smolensky, Dmitriy

Submitted to: ACS Food Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/30/2025
Publication Date: 2/17/2025
Citation: Santana, A.L., Peterson, J.M., Perumal, R., Hoon, Y., Lee, S., Siliveru, K., Smolensky, D. 2025. High molecular weight polyphenols from Sorghum bicolor retain higher glycation inhibition and cancer cell inhibition in vitro, compared to small molecular weight polyphenols after separation using Sephadex LH-20. ACS Food Science and Technology. 5:1010-1023. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00851.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00851

Interpretive Summary: Sorghum contains a diverse array of beneficial compounds known as polyphenols. In order for better sorghum varieties to be developed, there is a need to better understand which of these polyphenols exert the most beneficial health effects. This project developed a method to seperate large sorghum polyphenols from smaller ones. After seperation, this study evaluated the bioactivity of the larg polyphenol fraction and the small polyphenol fraction. Our results show that the larger polyphenols were more effective at inhibiting the growth of cancer cells and glycation in vitro (in the test-tube). This new method will assist in developing further research to effectively understand the beneficial effects of sorghum polyphenols.

Technical Abstract: Sorghum contains a diverse array of polyphenols, including proanthocyanidins and flavonoids, including unique 3-deoxyanthocyanidins. Methodologies have been proposed in the past to separate proanthocyanidins and other phenolics but there is no methodology available to separate monomeric/oligomeric polyphenols from polymeric proanthocyanidins. We developed a new method to selectively separate polyphenols based on size using extracts of high phenolic sorghum brans. Sephadex® LH-20 resin separated proanthocyanidins from flavonoids via elution with three solvents. Elution with water at 70% v/v, ethanol at 50-70% v/v and acetone at 70% v/v induced the highest separation of large proanthocyanidins from smaller monomeric/oligomeric polyphenols. This work also compared the bioactivity of the separated fractions via glycation inhibition and cancer cell viability inhibition. The results demonstrated that polymeric proanthocyanidins enriched fractions retained higher bioavailability than smaller polyphenol enriched fractions in both assays. The newly proposed method will improve the study of sorghum polyphenols for functional food applications.