Chromatographic and spectroscopic methods for the detection of cocoa butter in cocoa and its derivatives: A review

Currently, there is fierce competition in the cocoa industry to develop products that possess distinctive sensory characteristics and flavours. This is because cocoa and its derivatives provide numerous health and functional advantages, which is essential to their economics. The fatty acid and triglyceride composition of cocoa determines its quality. This review emphasises the necessity of developing precise, adaptable analytical techniques to identify and quantify cocoa butter in cocoa and its derived products, from cocoa beans to chocolate bars. Key chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques play crucial roles in understanding the fundamental principles underlying the production of cocoa with desirable flavours. This significantly impacts the sustainability, traceability, and authenticity of cocoa products while also supporting the battle against adulteration

Development of Polymer and Surfactant Based Naringenin Nanosuspension for Improvement of Stability, Antioxidant, and Antitumour Activity

Nanosuspensions are widely reported to enhance the solubility of poorly soluble drugs. In addition to enhancement in solubility, improvement of stability and therapeutic efficacy would be an added advantage. In the present study, premilling and subsequent high-pressure homogenization were carried out to produce naringenin nanosuspension. Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and sodium dodecyl sulfate were evaluated for their performance as stabilizers under various homogenization cycles. The prepared nanosuspensions were studied for average particle size and size distribution, zeta potential, solubility, drug release, antioxidant activity, and in vitro antitumor activity. It was observed that both hydroxypropyl methylcellulose-stabilized nanosuspension and sodium dodecyl sulfate-stabilized nanosuspension produced an enhancement in physical stability, antioxidant potential, and in vitro cytotoxicity compared with naringenin. Furthermore, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose-stabilized nanosuspension was found to be better than sodium dodecyl sulfate-stabilized nanosuspension in terms of particle size and size distribution, storage stability, and drug release. This study showed that nanosuspension formulations could be a potential strategy for improving dissolution and antitumor activity of naringenin

Development of an Icariin-Loaded Bilosome-Melittin Formulation with Improved Anticancer Activity against Cancerous Pancreatic Cells

Pancreatic cancer currently represents a severe issue for the entire world. Therefore, much effort has been made to develop an effective treatment against it. Emerging evidence has shown that icariin, a flavonoid glycoside, is an effective anti-pancreatic cancer drug. Melittin, as a natural active biomolecule, has also shown to possess anticancer activities. In the present study, with the aim to increase its effectiveness against cancerous cells, icariin-loaded bilosome-melittin (ICA-BM) was developed. For the selection of an optimized ICA-BM, an experimental design was implemented, which provided an optimized formulation with a particle size equal to 158.4 nm. After estimation of the release pattern, the anti-pancreatic cancer efficacy of this new formulation was evaluated. The MTT assay was employed for the determination of half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50), providing smaller IC50 for ICA-BM (2.79 ± 0.2 µM) compared to blank-BM and ICA-Raw (free drug) against PNAC1, a human pancreatic cancer cell line isolated from a pancreatic carcinoma of ductal cell origin. Additionally, cell cycle analysis for ICA-BM demonstrated cell arrest at the S-phase and pre-G1 phase, which indicated a pro-apoptotic behavior of the new developed formulation. The pro-apoptotic and anti-proliferative activity of the optimized ICA-BM against PNAC1 cells was also demonstrated through annexin V staining as well as estimation of caspase-3 and p53 protein levels. It can be concluded that the optimized ICA-BM formulation significantly improved the efficacy of icariin against cancerous pancreatic cells