2010 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 an 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. 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). Unfortunately the mice did not tolerate the injections very well and the experiments had to be terminated. We are not certain whether the adverse reaction was due to high glycoalkaloid levels in the extracts or possibly the pH of the extracts being too low to be delivered by injection. Changes have been made in the mouse treatment protocol and we also harvested additional material from a different potato genotype that has lower amounts of glycoalkaloids to be used in the mouse study. The experiment is currently underway with a different set of mice. Identify superior germplasm for potato disease- and pest-resistance, phytonutrients, minerals, and vitamins. This project was monitored by the ADODR through phone calls and emails.