scholarly journals Potential of Probiotic Frozen Blackcurrant Products: Consumer Preference, Physicochemical Characterization, and Cell Viability

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 792
Author(s):  
Kati Väkeväinen ◽  
Noora Rinkinen ◽  
Roosa-Maria Willman ◽  
Jenni Lappi ◽  
Kaisa Raninen ◽  
...  

Blackcurrant is a healthy, affordable, and traditionally gardened berry that, thus far, has been underused in food applications. From the consumers’ point of view, the acidic taste of blackcurrants is a challenge; therefore, these berries have mainly been utilized for sugary juice production. This research study aimed to develop a frozen vegan blackcurrant product with pleasant sensory properties and potential probiotic function. A candidate probiotic, Lactoplantibacillus plantarum Q823, was used in the manufacturing process. The physicochemical properties, nutritional composition, and consumer preference for the developed product were assessed, as was the viability of L. plantarum Q823 during storage time and in an in vitro gastrointestinal model. Consumers (n = 71) perceived the developed product to be pleasant. L. plantarum Q823 had high viability counts (log colony forming units (cfu) g−1 7.0 ± 0.38) in the final product, although the viability of L. plantarum Q823 during storage time needs to be enhanced to obtain a probiotic product. Thus, within an optimized formulation, blackcurrant berries represent a potential raw material for functional frozen food products.

Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria A. Bonifacio ◽  
Giorgia Cerqueni ◽  
Stefania Cometa ◽  
Caterina Licini ◽  
Luigia Sabbatini ◽  
...  

Arbutin is a plant-derived glycosylated hydroquinone with antioxidant features, exploited to combat cell damage induced by oxidative stress. The latter hinders the osseointegration of bone prostheses, leading to implant failure. Little is known about arbutin antioxidant effects on human osteoblasts, therefore, this study explores the in vitro protective role of arbutin on osteoblast-like cells (Saos-2) and periosteum-derived progenitor cells (PDPCs). Interestingly, cells exposed to oxidative stress were protected by arbutin, which preserved cell viability and differentiation. Starting from these encouraging results, an antioxidant coating loaded with arbutin was electrosynthesized on titanium. Therefore, for the first time, a polyacrylate-based system was designed to release the effective concentration of arbutin in situ. The innovative coating was characterized from the physico-chemical and morphological point of view to achieve an optimized system, which was in vitro tested with cells. Morpho-functional evaluations highlighted the high viability and good compatibility of the arbutin-loaded coating, which also promoted the expression of PDPC differentiation markers, even under oxidative stress. These results agreed with the coatings’ in vitro antioxidant activity, which showed a powerful scavenging effect against DPPH radicals. Taken together, the obtained results open intriguing opportunities for the further development of natural bioactive coatings for orthopedic titanium implants.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 539
Author(s):  
Mingshuang Dong ◽  
Yanhui Jiang ◽  
Chun Wang ◽  
Qian Yang ◽  
Xiaolu Jiang ◽  
...  

The aim of the study was to extract Porphyra haitanensis polysaccharides (PHPs) using the water extraction and alcohol precipitation methods and explore their antioxidant activity and physicochemical properties. The single-factor and Box-Behnken response surface methodologies were used to optimize the extraction of polysaccharides from Porphyra haitanensis. Our results showed that the polysaccharide yield was as high as 20.48% with a raw material to water ratio of 0.04, and extraction time of 3 h at 80 °C. The extraction rate observed was similar to the actual extraction rate, thus proving the reliability of the optimization model. The extracted polysaccharides primarily consisted of galactose, glucose, and fucose in the molar ratio 76.2:2.1:1, respectively. The high performance gel permeation chromatography (HPGPC) results showed that the molecular weight of the PHPs obtained was 6.3 × 105 Da, and the sulfate content was 2.7 mg/mL. Fourier infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze the functional groups and structures of the polysaccharides. The effect of concentration, temperature, and pH on the apparent viscosity of the PHPs solution were studied using rheology experiments, which revealed that PHPs were a “non-Newtonian fluid” with shear-thinning behavior. The viscosity of the PHPs gradually increased with increasing sugar concentration, and decreased with increasing temperature, acidity, and alkalinity. Detection of the antioxidant activity of OH*, DPPH*, and ABTS* revealed that the scavenging activity of ABTS* was higher than that of OH* and DPPH* in the concentration range of 1–5 mg/mL. In the experiments of simulating gastric juice and alpha amylase in vitro, it was found that PHPs can better resist digestion of alpha amylase, and have better resistance than fructooligosaccharide (FOS), so PHPs have potential prebiotic activity. These findings demonstrate the potential of PHPs for use in the food and cosmetic industries.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 4006
Author(s):  
Vicente Espinosa-Solis ◽  
Paul Baruk Zamudio-Flores ◽  
Miguel Espino-Díaz ◽  
Gilber Vela-Gutiérrez ◽  
J. Rodolfo Rendón-Villalobos ◽  
...  

The feasibility of obtaining resistant starch type III (RS3) from malanga flour (Xanthosoma sagittifolium), as an unconventional source of starch, was evaluated using the hydrothermal treatment of autoclaving. The physicochemical characterization of RS3 made from malanga flour was carried out through the evaluation of the chemical composition, color attributes, and thermal properties. In addition, the contents of the total starch, available starch, resistant starch, and retrograded resistant starch were determined by in vitro enzymatic tests. A commercial corn starch sample was used to produce RS3 and utilized to compare all of the analyses. The results showed that native malanga flour behaved differently in most of the evaluations performed, compared to the commercial corn starch. These results could be explained by the presence of minor components that could interfere with the physicochemical and functional properties of the flour; however, the RS3 samples obtained from malanga flour and corn starch were similar in their thermal and morphological features, which may be related to their similarities in the content and molecular weight of amylose, in both of the samples. Furthermore, the yields for obtaining the autoclaved powders from corn starch and malanga flour were similar (≈89%), which showed that the malanga flour is an attractive raw material for obtaining RS3 with adequate yields, to be considered in the subsequent research.


2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Maria Maliarova ◽  
Tibor Maliar ◽  
Jana Girmanova ◽  
Jozef Lehotay ◽  
Jan Kraic

Abstract The Humulus lupulus L. is well known as necessary raw material for beer production. The main structural classes of chemical compounds identified from hop cones include terpenes, bitter acids, prenylated chalcones, and flavonol glycosides. They were subjects of presented work. The content of quercetin was found in the range 490 - 1092 μg/g and that of kaempferol from 218 to 568 μg/g of the dry hop cones. The content of isorhamnetin was very low in all varieties. From biological activities in vitro point of view, relative high level of inhibition activity was observed for six hop genotypes - Zlatan, Lučan, and the Oswald's clones 31, 70, 71, 72, 114 on both enzymes thrombin and urokinase, but without correlation to analyzed flavonols content. In spite of this, antioxidant activity, measured by both the BCLM and HPE methods, was found high and seem to be in correlation with content of analyzed flavonols. Particularly the Oswald's clone 114 expressed very potent biological activities. In general, obtained results indicate that hop cones are valuable material also for other application others than beer production.


2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-134
Author(s):  
Ion Teoreanu ◽  
Roxana Lucia Dumitrache ◽  
Stefania Stoleriu

Any change of the raw material sources for glazes, economically, ecologically motivated, and also from the glaze quality point of view, is conditioned by the molecular formula rationalization and by the variation limits of the molecular formula, respectively. The proper glaze compositions are placed within their limit variation intervals with optimized processing and utilization properties. For this purpose, the rationalization criteria and procedures of molecular formulas are summarized in the present paper, as well as the results referring to their rationalization obtained in the authors� previous work. Thus, one starts from a base of raw materials that are selected, usable and also accessible for the design and producing of the glazes. On these bases the groundwork and the design equation for the glaze recipes are developed, exemplified for a single glaze. For an easy access to results, computer programs are used for an easy access to results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 400-410
Author(s):  
Valentina De Luca ◽  
Luigi Mandrich

: Enzymes are among the most studied biological molecules because better understanding enzymes structure and activity will shed more light on their biological processes and regulation; from a biotechnological point of view there are many examples of enzymes used with the aim to obtain new products and/or to make industrial processes less invasive towards the environment. Enzymes are known for their high specificity in the recognition of a substrate but considering the particular features of an increasing number of enzymes this is not completely true, in fact, many enzymes are active on different substrates: this ability is called enzyme promiscuity. Usually, promiscuous activities have significantly lower kinetic parameters than to that of primary activity, but they have a crucial role in gene evolution. It is accepted that gene duplication followed by sequence divergence is considered a key evolutionary mechanism to generate new enzyme functions. In this way, promiscuous activities are the starting point to increase a secondary activity in the main activity and then get a new enzyme. The primary activity can be lost or reduced to a promiscuous activity. In this review we describe the differences between substrate and enzyme promiscuity, and its rule in gene evolution. From a practical point of view the knowledge of promiscuity can facilitate the in vitro progress of proteins engineering, both for biomedical and industrial applications. In particular, we report cases regarding esterases, phosphotriesterases and cytochrome P450.


Author(s):  
Agnieszka Wróbel ◽  
Danuta Drozdowska

Background: Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) has been known for decades as a molecular target for antibacterial, antifungal and anti-malarial treatments. This enzyme is becoming increasingly important in the design of new anticancer drugs, which is confirmed by numerous studies including modelling, synthesis and in vitro biological research. This review aims to present and discuss some remarkable recent advances on the research of new DHFR inhibitors with potential anticancer activity. Methods: The scientific literature of the last decade on the different types of DHFR inhibitors has been searched. The studies on design, synthesis and investigation structure-activity relationship were summarized and divided into several subsections depending on the leading molecule and its structural modification. Various methods of synthesis, potential anticancer activity and possible practical applications as DHFR inhibitors of new chemical compounds were described and discussed. <p> Results: This review presents the current state of knowledge on the modification of known DHFR inhibitors and the structures and searching for over eighty new molecules, designed as potential anticancer drugs. In addition, DHFR inhibitors acting on thymidylate synthase (TS), carbon anhydrase (CA) and even DNA-binding are presented in this paper. <p> Conclusion: Thorough physicochemical characterization and biological investigations it is possible to understand structure-activity relationship of DHFR inhibitors. This will enable even better design and synthesis of active compounds, which would have the expected mechanism of action and the desired activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 937-941
Author(s):  
Sharad Vats ◽  
Preeti Mehra

Background: Vector-borne diseases are quite prevalent globally and are one of the major causes of deaths due to infectious diseases. There is an availability of synthetic insecticides, however, their excessive and indiscriminate use have resulted in the emergence of resistant varieties of insects. Thus, a search for novel biopesticide has become inevitable. Methods: Rotenoids were isolated and identified from different parts of Medicago sativa L. This group of metabolites was also identified in the callus culture, and the rotenoid content was monitored during subculturing for a period of 10 months. Enhancement of the rotenoid content was evaluated by feeding precursors in a tissue culture medium. Results: Four rotenoids (elliptone, deguelin, rotenone and Dehydrorotenone) were identified, which were confirmed using spectral and chromatographic techniques. The maximum rotenoid content was found in the seeds (0.33±0.01%), followed by roots (0.31±0.01%) and minimum in the aerial parts (0.20±0.05%). A gradual decrease in the rotenoid content was observed with the ageing of subcultured tissue maintained for 10 months. The production of rotenoids was enhanced up to 2 folds in the callus culture using amino acids, Phenylalanine and Methionine as precursors as compared to the control. The LC50 value of the rotenoids was found to be 91 ppm and 162 ppm against disease vectors of malaria and Dracunculiasis, respectively. Conclusion: The study projects M. sativa as a novel source of biopesticide against the disease vectors of malaria and Dracunculiasis. The use of precursors to enhance the rotenoid content in vitro can be an effective venture from a commercial point of view.


Author(s):  
Niketa Chauhan ◽  
Nilay Lakhkar ◽  
Amol Chaudhari

AbstractThe process of bone regeneration in bone grafting procedures is greatly influenced by the physicochemical properties of the bone graft substitute. In this study, porous phosphate glass (PPG) morsels were developed and their physicochemical properties such as degradation, crystallinity, organic content, surface topography, particle size and porosity were evaluated using various analytical methods. The in vitro cytotoxicity of the PPG morsels was assessed and the interaction of the PPG morsels with Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs) was studied by measuring cell proliferation and cell penetration depth. The cell-material interactions between PPG morsels and a commercially available xenograft (XG) were compared. The PPG morsels were observed to be amorphous, biocompatible and highly porous (porosity = 58.45%). From in vitro experiments, PPG morsels were observed to be non-cytotoxic and showed better cell proliferation. The internal surface of PPG was easily accessible to the cells compared to XG.


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