Effect of extraction conditions on the antioxidant and antiglycation capacity of carbohydrates from Opuntia robusta cladodes

The extraction and characterisation of six crude polysaccharides from Opuntia robusta cladodes, as well as the assessment of their antioxidant and antiglycation activities in vitro, were examined. In this work, carbohydrates were extracted from defatted cladode's peels and pulps through a sequential extraction method in different aqueous medium (neutral, basic and chelating). The obtained polysaccharides were compared in terms of yield and physicochemical properties. Water‐soluble extracts showed the highest yield, while peel's chelating‐soluble extract gave high galacturonic acid content. Preliminary antioxidant in vitro tests suggested that peel's chelating‐soluble extract presented the highest scavenging activity towards DPPH free radicals and inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation. Furthermore, all extracted polysaccharides showed good potential in inhibiting the nonenzymatic glycation reaction, particularly on the first 3 days of incubation. The obtained results suggested that Opuntia robusta extracts could be explored as natural antioxidant, especially those extracted with chelating agent.