Nutritional and bioactivity properties of selected earthworm species for potential cosmeceutical applications

Earthworms are invertebrates that have been widely applied to environmental and land study, however, a new chapter opens opportunities of research in cosmetic and medicine. The objectives of the experiment were to evaluate the nutritional and antioxidant properties from the earthworms Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida and Lumbricus rubellus and to examine the bioactivity properties of the earthworms extract in tyrosinase, matrix metalloproteinase-1, and elastase inhibitory activities for cosmeceutical applications. The analyzed components include moisture, available carbohydrates, total lipids, dietary fiber, crude protein, amino acids, ash, and minerals. The amino acids profile of the earthworm extracts was evaluated using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-Page) was used to determine and separate the protein based on size. The results showed E. fetida had slightly higher amount of protein and ash than L. rubellus and E. euginae. All the earthworm extracts showed high amounts of minerals ranging from 3-22% in calcium, potassium and phosphorus. All the extracts had the least amount of the amino acid cysteine, ranging from 0.17-0.21 mg/100 g protein, while the highest concentration is leucine, being 1.0-2.5 mg/100 g protein. Lysine and methionine, which were the limiting amino acids in most feedstuff, were present in all the extracts, ranging from 0.29-1.16 mg/100 g proteins and 0.3-0.57 mg/100 g protein, respectively. Molecular weights of earthworm extracts showed from 13-430 kDa under the optimal conditions of sodium dodecyl sulphatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-Page). E. fetida exhibited wide molecular weight distribution compared to L. rubellus and E. eugeniae which consisted of 11, 10 and 6 prominent bands, respectively. In addition, E. fetida had the highest antioxidant activity (91.76%) using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydracyl (DPPH) assay compared to E. eugeniae and L. rubellus. At 25 mg/ml concentration, the antioxidant activity of E. fetida using DPPH assay was almost comparable to ascorbic acid (10mg/ml) which is usually used as antioxidant in most pharmaceutical products. All extracts demonstrated excellent inhibitory effects on tyrosinase. Extract from E. fetida gave the highest tyrosinase inhibition activity (80.12%) compared to L. rubellus (72.02%) and E. eugeniae (71.28%). However, their inhibition was still lower than the standard L-cysteine. In conclusion, this study provides nutritional compositional of earthworms as well as new findings on bioactivity properties having antioxidant, anti-tyrosinase and anti-aging properties. All the earthworms demonstrated valuable properties in antioxidant, anti-aging and whitening inhibition capacity despite the species. As such, it can be a potential candidate for application and utilization in cosmeceutical products

Anti–elastase, anti–tyrosinase and matrix metalloproteinase–1 inhibitory activity of earthworm extracts as potential new anti–aging agent

Objective: To examine whether earthworms of Eisenia fetida, Lumbricus rubellus and Eudrilus eugeniae extracts have elastase, tyrosinase and matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) inhibitory activity. Methods: The earthworms extract was screened for elastase, tyrosinase and MMP-1 inhibitory activity and compared with the positive controls. It was also evaluated for whitening and anti-wrinkle capacity. Results: The extract showed significantly (P<0.05) good elastase and tyrosinase inhibition and excellent MMP-1 inhibition compared to N-Isobutyl-N-(4-methoxyphenylsulfonyl)-glycylhydroxamic acid. Conclusions: Earthworms extract showed effective inhibition of tyrosinase, elastase and MMP-1 activities. Therefore, this experiment further rationalizes the traditional use of this worm extracts which may be useful as an anti-wrinkle agent

The Effect of Different Pretreatment of Chicken Manure for Electricity Generation in Membrane-Less Microbial Fuel Cell

The need for energy resources is growing all the time, which means that more fossil fuels are needed to provide them. People prefer to consume chicken as a source of protein, and this creates an abundance of waste. Thus, microbial fuel cells represent a new technological approach with the potential to generate electricity through the action of electrogenic bacteria toward chicken manure, while reducing the abundance of chicken manure. This study investigated the effect of different pretreatment (thermal, alkaline, and sonication pretreatment) of chicken manure to improve the performance of a membrane-less microbial fuel cell (ML-MFC). Statistical response surface methodology (RSM) through a central composite design (CCD) under a quadratic model was conducted for optimization of the ML-MFC performance focusing on the COD removal efficiency (R2 = 0.8917), biomass (R2 = 0.9101), and power density response (R2 = 0.8794). The study demonstrated that the highest COD removal (80.68%), biomass (7.8539 mg/L), and power density (220 mW/m2) were obtained when the pretreatment conditions were 140 &deg;C, 20 kHz, and pH 10. The polarization curve of the best condition of ML-MFC was plotted to classify the behavior of the ML-MFC. The kinetic growth of Bacillus subtillis (BS) showed that, in treated chicken manure, the specific growth rate &micro; = 0.20 h&minus;1 and doubling time Td = 3.43 h, whereas, in untreated chicken manure, &micro; = 0.11 h&minus;1 and Td = 6.08

Abstracts of the International Halal Science Conference 2023

This book presents the extended abstracts of the selected contributions to the International Halal Science Conference, held on 22-23 August 2023 by the International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), IIUM, Malaysia in collaboration with Halalan Thayyiban Research Centre, University Islam Sultan Sharif (UNISSA), Brunei Darussalam. With the increasing global interest in halal products and services, this conference is timely. Conference Title:  International Halal Science ConferenceConference Acronym: IHASC23Conference Theme: Halal Industry Sustainability Through ScienceConference Date: 22-23 August 2023Conference Venue: International Islamic University (IIUM), MalaysiaConference Organizer: International Institute for Halal Research and Training (INHART), International Islamic University (IIUM), Malaysi