An industry consensus study on an HPLC fluorescence method for the determination of (±)-catechin and (±)-epicatechin in cocoa and chocolate products

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This manuscript describes the results of an HPLC study for the determination of the flavan-3-ol monomers, (±)-catechin and (±)-epicatechin, in cocoa and plain dark and milk chocolate products. The study was performed under the auspices of the National Confectioners Association (NCA) and involved the analysis of a series of samples by laboratories of five member companies using a common method.</p> <p>Methodology</p> <p>The method reported in this paper uses reversed phase HPLC with fluorescence detection to analyze (±)-epicatechin and (±)-catechin extracted with an acidic solvent from defatted cocoa and chocolate. In addition to a variety of cocoa and chocolate products, the sample set included a blind duplicate used to assess method reproducibility. All data were subjected to statistical analysis with outliers eliminated from the data set.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The percent coefficient of variation (%CV) of the sample set ranged from approximately 7 to 15%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Further experimental details are described in the body of the manuscript and the results indicate the method is suitable for the determination of (±)-catechin and (±)-epicatechin in cocoa and chocolate products and represents the first collaborative study of this HPLC method for these compounds in these matrices.</p

A phenotypic screen in zebrafish identifies a novel small-molecule inducer of ectopic tail formation suggestive of alterations in non-canonical Wnt/PCP signaling

Zebrafish have recently emerged as an attractive model for the in vivo bioassay-guided isolation and characterization of pharmacologically active small molecules of natural origin. We carried out a zebrafish-based phenotypic screen of over 3000 plant-derived secondary metabolite extracts with the goal of identifying novel small-molecule modulators of the BMP and Wnt signaling pathways. One of the bioactive plant extracts identified in this screen - Jasminum gilgianum, an Oleaceae species native to Papua New Guinea - induced ectopic tails during zebrafish embryonic development. As ectopic tail formation occurs when BMP or non-canonical Wnt signaling is inhibited during the tail protrusion process, we suspected a constituent of this extract to act as a modulator of these pathways. A bioassay-guided isolation was carried out on the basis of this zebrafish phenotype, identifying para-coumaric acid methyl ester (pCAME) as the active compound. We then performed an in-depth phenotypic analysis of pCAME-treated zebrafish embryos, including a tissue-specific marker analysis of the secondary tails. We found pCAME to synergize with the BMP-inhibitors dorsomorphin and LDN-193189 in inducing ectopic tails, and causing convergence-extension defects in compound-treated embryos. These results indicate that pCAME may interfere with non-canonical Wnt signaling. Inhibition of Jnk, a downstream target of Wnt/PCP signaling (via morpholino antisense knockdown and pharmacological inhibition with the kinase inhibitor SP600125) phenocopied pCAME-treated embryos. However, immunoblotting experiments revealed pCAME to not directly inhibit Jnk-mediated phosphorylation of c-Jun, suggesting additional targets of SP600125, and/or other pathways, as possibly being involved in the ectopic tail formation activity of pCAME. Further investigation of pCAME's mechanism of action will help determine this compound's pharmacological utility