Coconut Inflorescence Sap Enhances Exercise Performance and Plasma Antioxidant Status in Young Active Men

Purpose Nutrition has been increasingly recognized as a key component to optimal sports performance. Though several botanical agents have been reported to possess ergogenic potential, there exists a great interest for tasty and safe natural substances as performance boosters. In the present contribution, the ergogenic potential of a novel powder form of coconut inflorescence sap (CSP) was investigated for the first time. Method Out of the fourteen participants recruited, twelve recreationally active men completed the single-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover study for 8 weeks. Running based anaerobic sprint test (RAST) and 2.4 km running test were performed as anaerobic and aerobic tests, respectively. In arm 1, the participants were received with either placebo (200 mL water containing 400 mg aspartame/day) or CSP (3 g in 200 mL water/day) for 21 days. After the washout period, arm 2 was performed with a reversed treatment regime. VO2 max was estimated using a predictive formula. Results The primary outcome showed a significant enhancement in peak power and mean power (peak power from 3.67 W/kg b. wt. to 5.38 W/kg b. wt.; mean power from 3.47 W/kg b. wt. to 5.06 W/kg b. wt.). A significant (p \u3c 0.001) increase in VO2 max among CSP condition compared to the placebo was observed (from 59.38 ± 2.15 mL/kg/min to 62.56 ± 0.52 mL/kg/min). Further, serum analysis revealed enhanced antioxidant status and reduced lactate dehydrogenase (p \u3c 0.01) levels without any significant changes (p \u3e 0.05) in safety parameters. Conclusion It was concluded that CSP possesses significant ergogenic effect and may find wide application as a natural ingredient for sports nutrition and energy drinks. Trial Registration The study was registered in Clinical Trial Registry of India (Reg No.: CTRI/2018/03/012551 dated 13/03/2018)

A novel powder formulation of coconut inflorescence sap inhibits alcoholic liver damage by modulating inflammatory markers, extracellular matrix metalloproteinase, and oxidative stress

Practical applications Despite the fact that unfermented coconut inflorescence sap (CSP) is a popular health drink in many of the Asian countries, systematic investigations on its pharmacological effects are limited. Herein, we report the hepatoprotective effect of a novel powder formulation of CSP for the first time. Adult male Wistar rats were grouped into three and treated separately with vehicle, ethanol, and ethanol+CSP (250 mg/kg body weight) for 30 days. Ethanol treatment (12.5 g/kg body weight of 90% v/v]) induced significant liver damage as evidenced from the elevation (p < .01) in liver function markers (SGPT, SGOT, and ALP), inflammatory markers (WBC, CRP, IL-6, TNF-, TLR-4, and nitrite) and lipid peroxidation along with decrease in endogenous antioxidant markers (SOD, CAT, GPx, GSH) and significant dysregulation of extracellular matrix as shown by the over expressions of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-2, MMP-9), and histopathology/cytology measurements. But, supplementation of CSP demonstrated significant (p < .001) inhibition of alcoholic hepatic damage with reversal (p > .05) of the biochemical markers and indicated hepatic cell regeneration. The results of the present study suggest plausible hepatoprotective efficacy of the powder form of coconut inflorescence sap (CSP) by modulating inflammatory markers, extracellular matrix metalloproteinase, and oxidative stress. Further, the stable powder form has great potential since it can overcome the inherent problem of rapid fermentation of the sap to alcohol during storage, which is a major hurdle in its development as a functional food/beverage

Anti-inflammatory effect of a novel formulation of coconut inflorescence sap against ox-LDL induced inflammatory responses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by modulating TLR-NF-kappa B signaling pathway

Oxidized low density lipoprotein (ox LDL) induced inflammatory response was reported to play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The purpose of this study was to explore the anti-inflammatory effect of a novel formulation of coconut inflorescence sap (CSP); COCOZENTM against ox-LDL induced inflammatory responses in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMCs). The hPBMCs were isolated from healthy human volunteers and cultured in collagen coated plates at 37 degrees C. The cells were grouped as Group I (Control), Group II (ox-LDL treated) and Group III (ox-LDLthornCSP treated). Further analysis of inflammatory markers, reactive oxygen species, mRNA and protein expression levels indicated increased expressions of TLR-4, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and VCAM-1 in ox-LDL treated group along with the nuclear translocation of NF-kappa B. Other inflammatory markers such as LOX, PGE2, NO, total COX and lipid peroxidation level were also found to be significantly (p<. 05) increased upon Ox-LDL treatment. The treatment with CSP on the other hand was found to down regulate and reverse the ox-LDL-induced alterations indicating its potential anti-inflammatory effect on hPBMCs via TLR-NF-kappa B signaling pathway

Polyphenolic fraction of virgin coconut oil inhibits the inflammatory response in oxidized LDL activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells by modulating TLR/NF-kappa B signaling pathways

Introduction: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) is one of the many causes of the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis, which leads to inflammation in the blood vessels. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of the polyphenolic fraction of virgin coconut oil (PFV) to modulate TLR/NF-kappa B signaling pathway in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMCs) exposed to ox-LDL induced inflammation. Methods: hPBMCs were divided into three groups, namely; Control (Group I), ox-LDL treated (50 mg/mL) (Group II) and ox-LDL+ PFV (4 mg/mL) treated (Group III). The cell cytotoxicity studies was carried out by MTT assay. RT-PCR was performed for the measurement of mRNA expressions and western blotting analysis was carried out for expressions of NF-kappa B, TNF-a, IL-6 and VCAM-1 Results: The ox-LDL treated group I showed an upregulated expression of TLR4, NF-B, pro-inflammatory cytokines and VCAM-1. When treated with PFV, TLR4 expression was inhibited at the mRNA level and inhibited the translocation of NF-kappa B p65 by modulating the TLR-NF-kappa B signaling pathway. This was evident from the down regulation in cytokine production and inflammatory mediators like LOX, NO and PGE2. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the significant anti-inflammatory effect of PFV on ox-LDL induced inflammatory condition as supported by various biochemical assays and gene/protein expression studies, indicating the potential use of virgin coconut oil polyphenols as natural anti-inflammatory agent to modulate TLR/NF-kappa B signaling pathway. (C) 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved

Anti-inflammatory effect of synthesized indole-based chalcone (2E)-3-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(1H-indol-3-yl) prop-2-en-1-one: an in vitro and in vivo studies

Purpose: Chalcones are precursors of flavonoids with a wide range of pharmacological activities. This study evaluates the anti-inflammatory effect of indole based chalcone derivative (2E)-3-(4-bromophenyl)-1-(1H-indol-3-yl) prop-2-en-1-one (IC9) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activated murine macrophages RAW264.7 cells and carrageenan-induced acute model in rats. Materials and methods: LPS-treated RAW264.7 cell lines and carrageenan-induced animal model were employed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of IC9. The cell cytotoxicity studies were carried out by MTT assay. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and other inflammatory markers such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), nitric oxide (NO) as well as cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) activity were determined using ELISA. The RT-PCR was performed to determine mRNA expressions in the case of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), COX-2, Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4) and also nuclear translocation of NF-?B activity. Results: LPS-activated RAW264.7 cells showed an increased level of ROS generation and other inflammatory markers such as PGE2, NO level and COX-2 activity. Expression of iNOS, COX- 2 and TLR-4 mRNA expression were also up-regulated along with nuclear translocation of NF-?B. On IC9 supplementation, all the above parameters of LPS-activated cells were found to be reversed, resembling the control group. Moreover, IC9 significantly inhibited paw swelling and exhibited maximum inhibition of 78.45% at low dose of 7.5 mg/kg.bwt. Conclusions: The targeting anti-inflammatory efficacy and profound NF-?B sensitive transcriptional regulatory mechanism of IC9 accounts for its effective anti-inflammatory action