Abstract
The objective of this work was to isolate a polysaccharide similar to pectin from Crataeva tapia leaves, not yet reported in the literature, and to evaluate its antioxidant, cytotoxic and immunomodulatory profile. Pectin was extracted from the leaves in three stages, organic solvent followed by acidified water and ethanol precipitation. With the pectin obtained, the physicochemical characterization of the molecule was carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (13C and 1H) and different thermal and elemental analysis. Furthermore, the antioxidant activities were evaluated in vitro, and using human peripheral blood mononuclear cell culture, cytotoxicity and immunostimulatory actions were investigated. Physical and chemical analyses showed characteristic signs of pectin. Antioxidant activity tests showed that pectin had moderate to low antioxidant activity. Furthermore, pectin did not affect the viability of erythrocytes and PBMC and induced an immunostimulatory state when it promoted the production of cytokines IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α and increased the activation of CD8 + T lymphocytes. This study showed that pectin from Crataeva tapia is not cytotoxic and promoted a pro-inflammatory profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cell with application as an immunostimulating and emulsifying compound.