CAROTENOID ESTERS – A MINIREVIEW

Carotenoids are natural pigments, produced by all higher plants, some bacteria and algae. They have important antioxidant properties. Between all carotenoids xanthophylls are found in higher plants in esterified from. Esters of carotenoids are synthetised especially during senescence. The fatty acids which esterified the carotenoids are in principal, saturated fatty acids but in some plants they ca be present also unsaturated fatty acids but in lowest amounts. The separation and identification of carotenoids esters can be very difficult and HPLC-Ms analysis should be carried ou

LIPASES: APPLICATION IN CAROTENOIDS ANALYSIS

Enzymes are macromolecules which have the capacity to effect the reactions. Betwwen them, lipases are enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of fat, transesterification and esterification among other reactions. Lipase is a versatile enzyme with many potential industrial applications; it has been used for the modification of fats and oils and the synthesis of flavor esters and food additives. The use of immobilized lipase is a possible solution to the high cost of a lipase, because the enzyme can be recovered from the product and reused. Among the various immobilization methods available, immobilization using covalent bonding has been most widely studied. Application on carotenoid extraction from plants can be applied with good yields

LUTEIN ESTERS FROM TAGETES ERECTA L.: ISOLATION AND ENZYMATIC HYDROLYSIS

Carotenoids are natural pigments, produced by higher plants, some bacteria and algae with important antioxidant properties. Carotenoid xanthophylls are found in higher plants in esterified form. The fatty acids, which esterified the carotenoids are mainly saturated fatty acids, but in some plants unsaturated fatty acids can also be present in low amounts. The highest carotenol esters content is usually associated with senescence and fruit ripening. Lipase from Candida rugosa is a universal lipolytic biocatalyst and cleaves carotenoid esters with high yields. In this study we used lipases from Candida rugosa and from porcine pancreas to hydrolyze the lutein esters extracted from marigold flowers. HPLC-PDA was used for separation and quantification of carotenoid esters and for monitoring the ester hydrolysi

The Influence of Lactation Stage on Lactoperoxidase Activity

It was analyzed lactoperoxidase activity in individual milk samples of 14 Friesian cows at 2, 14, 30, 90 and 180 days postpartum. Enzyme activity decreases from 0.75 U/ml in samples taken 2 days post partum to 0.36 U/ml 180 days postpartum. Lactoperoxidase activity was higher when analyze was performed 6 hours after milking (0,40 U/ml) compared to 48 hours (0.15 U/ml). Variation among cows was also large ranging from 0.54-0.94 U/ml on a specific sampling day. Such variations indicate that the efficiency of enzyme in preserving milk is affected by many factors including stage of lactation, individual animal and sampling day

The Behaviors of Wine Grape Varieties with Biological Resistant, in Blaj Vineyard Conditions

The creation of varieties with high biological resistant to specific diseases of the vine but also to the extreme weather conditions (frost) represents a great advantage by being able to avoid phytosanitary products. But besides these goals, the breeder must have into account the productivity and quality, these characters being of major importance for the farmer. In the natural conditions of Blaj vineyard, in 2013, the registries results show that ‘Brumăriu’ obtained the biggest values for: sugar level (195.7 g/l), absolute fertility coefficient (1.7), relative fertility coefficient (1.6) and relative productivity index (239.5 g). The most early variety was ‘Rubin’, witch maturated at 20th of september. ‘Radames’ offers high productivity (over 25 t/ha) but the destination is for getting current consumption wines

Characterization of Turcana, Tigaie and Merinos de Cluj Sheep Milk

The aim of this study is to update the values concerning nutritional components for different sheep breeds: Merinos de Cluj, ?urcan? and ?igaie. The breed of sheep affected the composition of milk. It was found that protein content of ?urcana has values between 5.79-7.14%, ?igaie 5.62-7.0% and Merinos de Cluj 4.84-7,72%. The processing performance of the milk is mainly dependent of protein content (renneting time, rate of formation and consistency of the curd) so the cheese makers are interested to use even Merinos de Cluj milk well known as a wool sheep. The fat content is highest in ?urcana milk (7.80-12.02%) and lowest in Merinos de Cluj (4.55-9.56%). The research has been done on individual milk samples received from 10 individual sheep. The animals were of second lactation and had been bred in the Cluj County and the analysis has been done in 2007 and 2008, at the beginning and at the end of lactation respectively

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Phenolic Acids using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) from Organic and Conventional Grapes

Organic farming is currently practiced world wide and involve plants which are cultivatedwithout using synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and promotes biodiversity, biologicalcycles and improve the product quality. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of phenolic acids usinghigh performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) from four table grape varieties (‘Timpuriu de Cluj’,‘Chasselas doré’, ‘Napoca’ and ‘Muscat Hamburg’) and five wine grape varieties (‘Aromat de Iași’,‘Traminer roz’, ‘Riesling Italian’, ‘Fetească regală’ and ‘Muscat Ottonel’) cultivated in organic andconventional systems were studied. The phenolic acids identified from grape skin samples were:gentisic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, o-coumaric acid, resveratrol and quercetin.For all varieties analized the concentrations of ferulic acid, resveratrol and quercetin were higher inconventional grapes than in organic ones (except ‘Timpuriu de Cluj’). Among the varieties analyzedwe can distinguish the variety ‘Napoca’, which achieved the highest concentrations of ferulic acid(12.1±1.1mg/kg-organic; 14.9±1.3mg/kg-conventional), resveratrol (4.9±0.5 mg/kg-organic; 5.3±0.8mg/kg-conventional) and quercetin (16.0±0.8mg/kg-organic; 16.0±1.3mg/kg-conventional) followedat significant differences by ‘Muscat Hamburg’and ‘Timpuriu de Cluj’

COMPARATIVE STUDIES REGARDING ANTIOXIDANT ACTIONS OF OXYGENATED NORMAL AND RETRO CAROTENOIDS IN MOUSE LIVER AND SKIN

Numerous studies that demonstrate the direct relation between oxidative stress and diseases development have been accumulated in the last years. Experimentally, in the oxidative stress state, the raising of the concentration of products resulted from oxidative degradation of lipids, proteins and nucleic acids have been notice, along with the decreasing of the enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants activity. The literature shows a special interest on antioxidants characteristics of various vitamins and provitamines, especially carotenoids. The present paper consist in a comparative study regarding the antioxidant activity of oxygenized carotenoids, with both normal and retro type structure (canthaxanthin and rhodoxanthin) and also in making evident the possible differences that could appear in this activity according to the structure. The oxidative stress state was evaluated in liver and skin using specific markers. Canthaxanthin and rhodoxanthin administration positively influence the oxidative stress markers at cellular level. The carotenoids administration influences differently the activity of antioxidant enzymes in analysed tissues: canthaxanthin activates these enzymes at skin level while rhodoxanthin activates them at hepatic level. The antioxidant effect it's more obvious in the case of canthaxanthin, this pigment demonstrates a higher protecting effect on lipids compared with rhodoxanthin

Study of Some Agrotehnological Characteristics of Rocket (Eruca sativa Mill)

Currently in the world grow hundreds of vegetable species, many of them taken from spontaneous flora for special nutritional qualities, increased resistance to disease and pests. In our country the rocket (Eruca sativa Mill),is hardly knew, therefore this experience took place to accumulate further knowledgment upon this vegetable, for simple reason; to proceed diversification of the current range of vegetables