Plant Milking Technology—An Innovative and Sustainable Process to Produce Highly Active Extracts from Plant Roots

We have used an original technology (Plant Milking Technology) based on aeroponic cultivation of plants associated with the gentle recovery of active ingredients from roots. Extraction of bioactive molecules was achieved by soaking the roots, still attached to the living plants, into a nontoxic solvent for a 2 h period. This nondestructive recovery process allows using the same root biomass for successive harvesting dates, in a recyclable way. We have applied this technology to Morus alba L. (mulberry tree), an emblematic tree of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Trees were aeroponically grown in large-scale devices (100 m2) and were submitted to nitrogen deprivation to increase the content in active molecules (prenylated flavonoids). The Plant Milking technology applied to Morus alba L. allowed to produce an extract enriched in prenylated compounds (18-fold increase when compared to commercial root extract). Prenylated flavonoids (moracenin A and B, kuwanon C, wittiorumin F, morusin) presented a high affinity for the aged-associated collagenase enzyme, which was confirmed by activity inhibition. In accordance, M. alba extract presents efficient properties to regulate the skin matrisome, which is critical during skin aging. The benefits have been especially confirmed in vivo on wrinkle reduction, in a clinical study that involved aged women. Plant Milking technology is an optimal solution to produce active ingredients from plant roots, including trees, that meet both customer expectations around sustainability, as well as the need for an efficient production system for biotechnologists

Collagenase and Tyrosinase Inhibitory Effect of Isolated Constituents from the Moss <i>Polytrichum formosum</i>

Mosses from the genus Polytrichum have been shown to contain rare benzonaphthoxanthenones compounds, and many of these have been reported to have important biological activities. In this study, extracts from Polytrichum formosum were analyzed in vitro for their inhibitory properties on collagenase and tyrosinase activity, two important cosmetic target enzymes involved respectively in skin aging and pigmentation. The 70% ethanol extract showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect against collagenase (IC(50) = 4.65 mg/mL). The methanol extract showed a mild inhibitory effect of 44% against tyrosinase at 5.33 mg/mL. Both extracts were investigated to find the constituents having a specific affinity to the enzyme targets collagenase and tyrosinase. The known compounds ohioensin A (1), ohioensin C (3), and communin B (4), together with nor-ohioensin D (2), a new benzonaphthoxanthenone, were isolated from P. formosum. Their structures were determined by mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. Compounds 1 (IC(50) = 71.99 µM) and 2 (IC(50) = 167.33 µM) showed inhibitory activity against collagenase. Compound 1 also exhibited inhibition of 30% against tyrosinase activity at 200 µM. The binding mode of the active compounds was theoretically generated by an in-silico approach against the 3D structures of collagenase and tyrosinase. These current results present the potential application from the moss P. formosum as a new natural source of collagenase and tyrosinase inhibitors

The feminine affective universe in Vernon Subutex of Virginie Despentes

Ever since the publication of her first novel Baise-moi (1993), gender identities have constituted a leitmotivin Virginie Despentes’ work. Vernon Subutex, her latest novel published as a trilogy from 2015 to 2017, pursues this exploration. The three volumes portray intermittently twenty-six characters and, in addition to their social experiences, Despentes exposes us to their interiority as, in her fiction, the social can never be divorced from the personal. At first glance, the novel seems to reinforce the gender-based division of the univers affectifs. The novel actually reveals how the gendered dichotomy assigning reason and the public sphere to men and binding women to emotions and the private sphere still shapes identities. Women in particular seem mostly preoccupied with personal relationships, just as they are reduced to their gender, if not sex: love and their (self-)objectification prevail. Despentes does not explicitly denounce the persistence of gender-based ideals or of the gendering of the univers affectifs. On the contrary, the faithful rendition of the female characters’ interiority raises the readers’ awareness as to this phenomenon. The critique occurs, therefore, on the metadiscursive level