2009 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Identify compounds in potatoes that have nutritional or health-promoting value. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Diverse potato germplasm will be analyzed by LCMS to determine phytonutrient content. Potato extracts will be tested for anti-cancer activity using human cell cultures. Documents SCA with Texas A&M. Formerly 5354-21220-002-21S (8/08). 3.Progress Report Preliminary studies were conducted to determine the dose to be used in the animal experiment to understand the effect of potatoes on prostate cancer. The animal use protocol was approved by the University Laboratory Animal Care Committee of Texas A&M University and conformed to NIH guidelines. Bioactive compounds were extracted from two potato selections after freeze drying using extraction buffer (50% MeOH, 2.5% metaphosphoric acid, 1 mM EDTA). The solvent was dried to completion using rotovapor and dissolved in sterile PBS. Total phenolic content of these samples were measured using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent and the samples were kept chilled at all times and not exposed to bright light. Male athymic nude mice, age 4 to 6 weeks, were purchased from Harlan. LNCaP cells (1 x 106) in 1:1 ratio of Matrigel (BD Biosciences) were injected into the either side of the flank area of nude mice. The mice were weighed and tumor areas were measured every other day. Fifteen days after the tumor cell inoculation, mice were stratified by body weight so that mean initial body weight was similar among the treatment groups (n = 8 mice/group). The first group received 150 µL vehicle (sterile PBS) by intra peritoneal (i.p.) injection, and the second and third group of animals received 0.5 and 1 mg of total phenolics from wild potato selection respectively and the 4th group of animals received 1 mg of total phenolics from purple potato selection everyday for 10 days. 1 mg of total phenolics from wild potato variety was found to be toxic and all the mice were sick after the first dose and needed to be sacrificed. 0.5 mg of total phenolics dose can be used in the future studies. We previously showed that potato extracts have anti-cancer properties in human cell culture, but our new work shows that more optimization of the concentrations used when working with mice is necessary to avoid deleterious effects.This project was monitored by the ADODR through phone calls and emails.