To confirm the applicability of crab apple, the composition and content of amino acids and minerals with ‘Fuji’ apple were measured. Apple and crab apple were extracted with water, 70% and 100% ethanol, respectively. The contents of polyphenols, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid, antioxidant activities of these extracts were measured. The amino acid composition of apples comprised a total of 17 amino acids. The total amino acid contents of apple and crab apple were 2,050.45 mg/kg and 900.05 mg/kg, respectively. For minerals, the total mineral content of apple and crab apple were 489.14 mg%, 529.77 mg%, respectively. The contents of polyphenols, flavonoids, and ascorbic acid of apple and crab apple extracts were highest in 70% ethanol extracts. The content of polyphenols, the crab apple extract, showed a generally higher content than the apple extract. The content of flavonoids, apple and crab apple extracts revealed no difference between extracts. The content of ascorbic acid, apple extract showed a generally higher content than the crab apple extract, but there was no significant difference between extracts. In the case of DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging abilities, 70% ethanol extract showed the highest antioxidant activity, and crab apple showed higher activity than apple extracts.

To utilize Malus pruniforia Borkh. as a functional material, cold-water (CW), hot-water (HW), and 70% ethanol (EtOH) extracts were prepared, and their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities were compared. The antioxidant activity of the HW extract evaluated by ABTS and DPPH radical scavenging and FRAP activity was significantly effective. The total polyphenol content of the HW extract was also higher by 15.5±0.7 mg GAE/g extract compared to other extracts. The EtOH extract showed significantly decreased TNF-α (39.8%), IL-6 (65.5%), and NO (34.9%) levels in RAW 264.7 cells compared to the LPS-induced control group. The levels of IL-6 (21.1%) and IL-8 (19.3%) were significantly decreased by treatment of EtOH extract in HaCaT keratinocytes induced with TNF-α and IFN-γ. The UHPLC-MS results indicated that the EtOH extract might have chlorogenic acid and phlorizin as the major compounds. This was validated using HPLC-DAD, which showed that the EtOH extract had higher levels of chlorogenic acid and phlorizin (1,185±58 and 470±10 μg/g extract, respectively). In conclusion, the present study suggested that the anti-inflammatory activity of the EtOH extract was more effective than the CW and HW extracts, and chlorogenic acid and phlorizin could be used as indicator compounds and functional substances.