Analysis of the Cytotoxicity of Green Pigment Produced on the Surface of Roasted and Retorted Chestnuts Using Immune Cells and Gastrointestinal Cancer Cells

Roasted and retorted (RR) chestnuts develop green pigment spots on their surface during storage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the green pigment using RAW 264.7, MOLT-4, KATOⅢ and HT-29 cells. The pigment scraped from RR chestnuts (GP), whole RR chestnuts with green pigment spots (GC), whole RR chestnuts without green pigment (WC) and roasted and frozen stored chestnuts (FC) were extracted in 10% DMSO. MOLT-4 cells were less resistant to the cytotoxicity of the chestnut extracts than the RAW 264.7 cells. The GP extracts did not show different responses against H2O2-induced oxidative stress and LPS-induced NO production compared to the other extracts. The chestnut extracts did not have proliferative activity on either of the KATOⅢ or HT-29 cells (p>0.05). Our results from the comparison of the green pigment produced on the surface of the RR chestnuts to chestnuts that do not develop the green pigment suggest that the pigment may not be harmful in terms of either cytotoxicity towards immune cells or proliferation of gastrointestinal cancer cells.