Unlocking the in vitroanti- inflammatory and antidiabetic potential of Polygonum maritimum

Context: Several Polygonum species (Polygonaceae) are used in traditional medicine in Asia, Europe and Africa to treat inflammation and diabetes. Objective: Evaluate the in vitro antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic potential of methanol and dichloromethane extracts of leaves and roots of the halophyte Polygonum maritimum L. Material and methods: Antioxidant activity was determined (up to 1mg/mL) as radical-scavenging activity (RSA) of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), copper (CCA) and iron (ICA) chelating activities and iron reducing power (FRAP). NO production was measured in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages for 24 h at concentrations up to 100 mu g/mL and antidiabetic potential was assessed by alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase inhibition (up to 10 g/mL) assays. The phytochemical composition of the extracts was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results: The methanol leaf extract had the highest activity against DPPH center dot (IC50 = 26 mu g/mL) and ABTS1(+)center dot (IC50 = 140 mu g FRAP (IC50 = 48 mu g/mL) and CCA (IC50 = 770 mu g/mL). Only the dichloromethane leaf extract (LDCM) showed anti-inflammatory activity (IC50 = 48 mu g/mL). The methanol root (IC50 = 19 mu g/mL) and leaf (IC50 = 29 mu g/mL) extracts strongly inhibited baker's yeast alpha-glucosidase, but LDCM had higher rat's alpha-glucosidase inhibition (IC50 = 2527 mu g/mL) than acarbose (IC50 = 4638 mu g/mL). GC-MS analysis identified beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, 1-octacosanol and linolenic acid as possible molecules responsible for the observed bioactivities. Conclusions: Our findings suggest P. maritimum as a source of high-value health promoting commodities for alleviating symptoms associated with oxidative and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes.XtremeBio project - Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [PTDC/MAR-EST/4346/2012]; Portuguese National Budget; FCT [CCMAR/Multi/04326/ 2013, IF/00049/2012, SFRH/BPD/86071/2012, UID/Multi/00612/2013

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction and injection-port derivatization for the determination of free lipophilic compounds in fruit juices by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A method consisting of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) followed by injection-port derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) for the analysis of free lipophilic compounds in fruit juices is described. The method allows the analysis of several classes of lipophilic compounds, such as fatty acids, fatty alcohols, phytosterols and triterpenes. The chromatographic separation of the compounds was achieved in a chromatographic run of 25.5 min. The best conditions for the dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction were 100 μL of CHCl3 in 1 mL of acetone. For the injection-port derivatization, the best conditions were at 280 °C, 1 min purge-off, and a 1:1 sample:derivatization reagent ratio (v/v) using N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (MSTFA):pyridine (1:1) as reagent. Quality parameters were assessed for the target compounds, giving a limits of detection (LODs) ranging from 1.1 to 5.7 ng/mL and limits of quantification (LOQs) from 3.4 to 18.7 ng/mL for linoleic and stearic acid, respectively. Repeatability (%RSD, n = 5) was below 11.51% in all cases. In addition, the method linearity presented an r2 ≥0.990 for all ranges applied. Finally, the method was used to test the lipophilic fraction of various samples of commercial fruit juice

Chitosan Mediates Germling Adhesion in Magnaporthe oryzae and Is Required for Surface Sensing and Germling Morphogenesis

This is the final version of the article. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this record.The fungal cell wall not only plays a critical role in maintaining cellular integrity, but also forms the interface between fungi and their environment. The composition of the cell wall can therefore influence the interactions of fungi with their physical and biological environments. Chitin, one of the main polysaccharide components of the wall, can be chemically modified by deacetylation. This reaction is catalyzed by a family of enzymes known as chitin deacetylases (CDAs), and results in the formation of chitosan, a polymer of β1,4-glucosamine. Chitosan has previously been shown to accumulate in the cell wall of infection structures in phytopathogenic fungi. Here, it has long been hypothesized to act as a 'stealth' molecule, necessary for full pathogenesis. In this study, we used the crop pathogen and model organism Magnaporthe oryzae to test this hypothesis. We first confirmed that chitosan localizes to the germ tube and appressorium, then deleted CDA genes on the basis of their elevated transcript levels during appressorium differentiation. Germlings of the deletion strains showed loss of chitin deacetylation, and were compromised in their ability to adhere and form appressoria on artificial hydrophobic surfaces. Surprisingly, the addition of exogenous chitosan fully restored germling adhesion and appressorium development. Despite the lack of appressorium development on artificial surfaces, pathogenicity was unaffected in the mutant strains. Further analyses demonstrated that cuticular waxes are sufficient to over-ride the requirement for chitosan during appressorium development on the plant surface. Thus, chitosan does not have a role as a 'stealth' molecule, but instead mediates the adhesion of germlings to surfaces, thereby allowing the perception of the physical stimuli necessary to promote appressorium development. This study thus reveals a novel role for chitosan in phytopathogenic fungi, and gives further insight into the mechanisms governing appressorium development in M.oryzae.IAG was funded by BBSRC CASE studentship; SJG gratefully acknowledges BBSRC grant award BB/J008923/1. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Artificial neural network based modelling and optimization of refined palm oil process

YesThe content and concentration of beta-carotene, tocopherol and free fatty acid is one of the important parameters that affect the quality of edible oil. In simulation based studies for refined palm oil process, three variables are usually used as input parameters which are feed flow rate (F), column temperature (T) and pressure (P). These parameters influence the output concentration of beta-carotene, tocopherol and free fatty acid. In this work, we develop 2 different ANN models; the first ANN model based on 3 inputs (F, T, P) and the second model based on 2 inputs (T and P). Artificial neural network (ANN) models are set up to describe the simulation. Feed forward back propagation neural networks are designed using different architecture in MATLAB toolbox. The effects of numbers for neurons and layers are examined. The correlation coefficient for this study is greater than 0.99; it is in good agreement during training and testing the models. Moreover, it is found that ANN can model the process accurately, and is able to predict the model outputs very close to those predicted by ASPEN HYSYS simulator for refined palm oil process. Optimization of the refined palm oil process is performed using ANN based model to maximize the concentration of beta-carotene and tocopherol at residue and free fatty acid at distillate

Grain Quality Improvement in Japonica Rice : Achievements and Prospects

Several high grain quality rice varieties have been developed during the 2000\u27s. These varieties showed translucent, zero white-core, glossy and uniform milled-grain appearance, high palatability score of cooked rice and high percentage of whole grain after milling. The high eating quality variety group was lower in protein content, softer in gel consistency, and higher in breakdown and lower in consistency and setback viscosity measured by rapid visco-amylogram. In order to produce the low protein rice grain, the nitrogen fertilizer level has to be reduced to 90-110 kg per hectare with no nitrogen top dressing after heading. Rotational irrigation during rice growing season and delayed drainage after heading was found as effective in raising the whole grain yield and eating quality of cooked rice. Slow drying to 15-16% of grain moisture is recommended with air flow temperature below 50oC. Three hundred and ninety four native rice core collections were tested for their grain appearance, eating quality determining factors, and nutritional compounds. Health- enhancing potential and second metabolite contents were also evaluated. The native collections selected for high grain quality resources were used as cross parents and two new rice varieties having dark red pericarp color were developed from the crosses using Korean native varieties. The new variety had higher phenolic compounds in brown rice and the brown rice extract of this variety induced apoptotic cell deaths in H4II cells to a larger extent than the control rice extracts

Effect of long-chain fatty alcohols from orujo olive oil on nitric oxide and eicosanoid generation

Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CICYT) AGL2005–00572/AL

Caracterització mitjançant GC-MS dels lípids de la Typha angustifolia

En el present projecte es pretén caracteritzar qualitativa i quantitativament els components de les parts aèries de la Typha angustifolia, planta de la família de les tifàcies molt habitual en cursos d’aigua lents o bé en aiguamolls. Es parteix d’una mostra ja extreta i processada, així doncs, l’objectiu principal és la comparativa amb la possible bibliografia ja escrita de la planta i la identificació dels components químics que la conformen. La mostra de fruits i fulles de la planta en qüestió va ésser presa en els aiguamolls de la Bòbila de Santpedor i processada mitjançant la tècnica d’anàlisi de Cromatografia de Gasos acoblada a una posterior Espectrometria de Masses (CG-EM). L’elecció de la tècnica es justifica ja que aquesta és molt robusta i permet la identificació d’un ampli ventall de compostos químics. Degut a la poca bibliografia escrita sobre la composició química de la T. angustifolia es realitza un escombrat exhaustiu de les dues mostres (fulles i inflorescència) on es determinen un total de 57 compostos identificats amb claredat. Fins a dia d’avui, una varietat de compostos han estat aïllats i caracteritzats, inclosos onze compostos fenòlics identificats en les inflorescències femenines de la T. latifolia, un nou glucòsid de flavonol, tres esteroides i tres àcids greixosos, diversos estigmasterols lliures i acil-glucosilats, dos carotenoides i, 2-clorofenol i salicil aldehid en els extractes de la T. latifolia (He, Simoneit, Jara, & Jaffé, 2015). A partir d’aquí es procurarà anar una mica més enllà i no només intentar identificar els compostos descrits fins aleshores, sinó que també s’intentarà d’identificar-ne de nous. Arrel de l’estudi de (Basas, 2015) s’ha escollit aquesta planta ja que no ha estat molt estudiada però contradictòriament és utilitzada des de fa molts anys en diversos usos i coneguda arreu per aquests. Podríem equiparar-la al jonc marí o al jonc boval per les seves similituds morfològiques i fitoquímiques