Vasoactivity of Mantonico and Pecorello grape pomaces on rat aorta rings: an insight into nutraceutical development

The valorisation of agrochemical wastes has become a low cost and sustainable tendency for the development of functional food. In particular, these enriched products seem to be enjoyable tools to treat metabolic disorders. In this field, Calabrian autochthonous white grape pomaces (Mantonico and Pecorello cultivar) were firstly investigated for their vasoactive properties. Skins and seeds were extracted and characterized by NMR spectroscopy, revealig the presence of numerous vasoactive compounds. The effects of extracts were analyzed in in vitro experiments on rat aorta rings (with and without endothelium), contracted by phenylephrine or KCl. Seeds extracts showed, differently from skins, an appreciable endothelium-dependent, eNOS-mediated vasodilation in the range 1–100 µg/mL. From a food market point of view, all the extracts were enclosed into a pectin polymer matrix. In the same experimental conditions, the polymers demonstrated the persistance of vasodilator activity only for Pecorello seed extract, which presented the most rich chemical profile.