Spices have been used since ancient times. Although they have been employed mainly as flavoring and coloring agents, their role in food safety and preservation have also been studied
and
. Spices ...have exhibited numerous health benefits in preventing and treating a wide variety of diseases such as cancer, aging, metabolic, neurological, cardiovascular, and inflammatory diseases. The present review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the most relevant and recent findings on spices and their active compounds in terms of targets and mode of action; in particular, their potential use in food preservation and enhancement of shelf life as a natural bioingredient.
Lamiaceae (Labiatae) are an important group of medicinal plants, which have been used for treating heart disease in traditional medicine for centuries. These mainly aromatic plants are used as ...essential oils, extracts or isolated components (polyphenols, phenolic compounds, terpenes, iridoids etc.). Some Labiatae species (more than 30, such as cornmint, lavender, patchouli, rosemary etc.) are famous for their use in essential oil production worldwide. In this review, cardioprotective effects of Lamiaceae and their active secondary metabolites, as well as mechanism of action against cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, angina pectoris, hyperlipidemia, thromboembolism, coronary heart disease, heart failure, venous insufficiency, arrhythmia) will be discussed. Use of Labiatae as food or food additives (such as spices) may prevent risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer. This approach is also described as a part of the article. Studies on developing new, effective and safe natural products from Lamiaceae (rich source of flavonoids and other active compounds) are promising and may offer prevention and treatment for patients with coronary disease and other related diseases.
Seven new bisbibenzyls (1–7) were isolated from the methanol extract of the liverwort Lunularia cruciata along with one previously known bibenzyl and five known bisbibenzyls. The structures of ...compounds 1–7 were elucidated on the basis of the spectroscopic data. These newly isolated bisbibenzyls may be divided into two groups, the acyclic bisbibenzyls, perrottetins (1–3), and the cyclic analogues, riccardins (4–7). Besides standard perrottetin and riccardin structures (1 and 4, respectively), they contain phenanthrene (3 and 5), dihydrophenanthrene (2), and quinone moieties (6 and 7), rarely found in natural products. The new compounds 3 and 5, as well as the known riccardin G, exhibited cytotoxic activity against the A549 lung cancer cell line with IC50 values of 5.0, 5.0, and 2.5 μM, respectively.
This study aimed at evaluating the effects of the addition of an oil/beer/lemon marinade solution with or without the inclusion of oregano, rosemary and juniper essential oils on the quality, the ...technological properties as well as the shelf-life and safety of vacuum-packed pork loin meat. The results obtained suggested that, aside from the addition of essential oils, the marination process allowed to reduce meat pH, thus improving its water holding capacity. Instrumental and sensorial tests showed that the marination also enhanced the tenderness of meat samples, with those marinated with essential oils being the most positively perceived by the panelists. In addition, microbiological data indicated that the marinated samples showed a lower microbial load of the main spoiling microorganisms compared to the control samples, from the 6th to the 13th day of storage, regardless of the addition of essential oils. Marination also allowed to inhibit the pathogens
,
and
thus increasing the microbiological safety of the product. Overall outcomes suggest that the oil/beer/lemon marinade solution added with essential oils might represent a promising strategy to improve both qualitative and sensory characteristics as well as the safety of meat products.
The use of plant extracts (e.g., essential oils and their active compounds) represents an interesting alternative to chemical additives and preservatives applied to delay the alteration and oxidation ...of foods during their storage. Essential oils (EO) are nowadays considered valuable sources of food preservatives as they provide a healthier alternative to synthetic chemicals while serving the same purpose without affecting food quality parameters. The natural antimicrobial molecules found in medicinal plants represent a possible solution against drug-resistant bacteria, which represent a global health problem, especially for foodborne infections. Several solutions related to their application on food have been described, such as incorporation in active packaging or edible film and direct encapsulation. However, the use of bioactive concentrations of plant derivatives may negatively impact the sensorial characteristics of the final product, and to solve this problem, their application has been proposed in combination with other hurdles, including biocontrol agents. Biocontrol agents are microbial cultures capable of producing natural antimicrobials, including bacteriocins, organic acids, volatile organic compounds, and hydrolytic enzymes. The major effect of bacteriocins or bacteriocin-producing LAB (lactic acid bacteria) on food is obtained when their use is combined with other preservation methods. The combined use of EOs and biocontrol agents in fruit and vegetables, meat, and dairy products is becoming more and more important due to growing concerns about potentially dangerous and toxic synthetic additives. The combination of these two hurdles can improve the safety and shelf life (inactivation of spoilage or pathogenic microorganisms) of the final products while maintaining or stabilizing their sensory and nutritional quality. This review critically describes and collects the most updated works regarding the application of EOs in different food sectors and their combination with biocontrol agents and bacteriocins.
The main aim of this work was to verify the metabolic and functional aptitude of 15 vaginal strains belonging to
,
, and
(previously
), already characterized for their technological and antimicrobial ...properties. In order to evaluate the metabolic profile of these vaginal strains, a phenotype microarray analysis was performed on them. Functional parameters such as hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, deconjugation of bile salts, adhesion to an intestinal cell line (Caco-2), and a simulated digestion process were evaluated for these strains. A good number of these strains showed hydrophobicity values higher than 70%. Regarding the auto-aggregation assay, the most promising strains were
BC9 and BC1,
BC10 and BC14, and
BC17. Moreover,
BC4, BC6, BC7, and BC8 were characterized by strong bile salts hydrolase activity (BHS). In addition,
BC8 and
BC17 were characterized by a medium ability to adhere to Caco-2 cells. Data related to digestion process showed a strong ability of vaginal lactobacilli to withstand this stress. In conclusion, the data collected show the metabolic versatility and several exploitable functional properties of the investigated vaginal lactobacilli.
Liverworts are characterized by a high content of bioactive compounds reported to show antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant properties. In this study, the biological effects of the methanol ...extract of the liverwort Pellia endiviifolia and its constituents, bis-bibenzyls perrottetin E, 10′-hydroxyperrottetin E, and 10,10′-dihydroxyperrottetin E, were investigated using human peripheral blood cells as a model system. The assessment of the investigated compounds comprised testing their genotoxicity, apoptotic potential, and redox modulating activities. The genotoxicity testing indicated that medium (25 µM) and high concentrations (100 µM) of the investigated compounds displayed genotoxic and antiproliferative effects in human lymphocytes as revealed by significant, concentration-dependent enhancement of the micronuclei incidence and decrease in the cytokinesis-block proliferation index compared to the control (P < .001). Analysis of leukocyte apoptosis showed a substantial potential of all investigated compounds to induce apoptosis, which was not concentration-dependent. The P endiviifolia extract and perrottetin E demonstrated considerable pro-apoptotic potential, even at the lowest concentration (1 µM) applied. Evaluation of the redox modulating effects, which comprised measuring erythrocyte catalase activity and the lymphocyte malondialdehyde level, showed that the investigated compounds did not induce oxidative stress in human peripheral blood cells (P > .05). The observed genotoxic, antiproliferative, and proapoptotic effects of the investigated compounds make them suitable for further comprehensive studies related to their possible applications as anticancer agents.
The activity of edible
Nepeta nuda
L. (Lamiaceae) tincture and Listerine towards a selected group of oral pathogenic microorganisms (4 bacterial and 9 fungal strains) has been explored. Their ...potentials to inhibit the formation of biofilm and to diminish established biofilm have been compared. The amount of
N. nuda
tincture and swishing time necessary for reaching better or equivalent antimicrobial effect than that of Listerine have been predicted. Phenolic compounds in
N. nuda
tincture are determined by LC-DAD/ESI-MSn. Both Listerine and
N. nuda
tincture possess good antimicrobial potentials (MIC in the range of 0.8-15 μL per well) including inhibition of biofilms. Rosmarinic acid and verminoside are the most dominant phenolic compounds present in the
N. nuda
tincture. Based on
in vitro
results, we infer that it is more desirable to swish 20 mL of mouthwashes (Listerine and
N. nuda
tincture, 100 mg mL
−1
) for 30 s when dealing with selected microorganisms in general and for 60 s (
N. nuda
tincture) when dealing with bacterial biofilms.
The activity of edible
Nepeta nuda
L. (Lamiaceae) tincture and Listerine towards a selected group of oral pathogenic microorganisms (4 bacterial and 9 fungal strains) has been explored.
This manuscript describes the first detailed chemical investigation of endemic species Iris adriatica, including isolation and structure elucidation. Chemical analyses of the rhizome CH
Cl
/MeOH ...(2:1) extract revealed fourteen secondary metabolites, mainly isoflavonoids. Among isoflavonoids, two groups have been found: nigricin-type and tectorigenin-type. Dominant group of the isolated compounds has been nigricin-type isoflavones: nigricin, nigricin-4'-(1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) and nigricin-4'-(1-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1-6)-β-D-glucopyranoside) with 2.5, 10 and 1% of the total extract, respectively. Irisxanthone - xanthone C-glucoside, β-sitosterol, benzophenone and one of its derivatives have also been found. Nigricin-type isoflavonoids and irisxanthone can be considered as possible chemotaxonomic markers for I. adriatica. 5,3',5'-Trimethoxy-6,7-methylenedioxyisoflavone-4'-(1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) and benzophenone have been isolated from Iris species for the first time.
Based on previous investigations where bis-bibenzyls isolated from liverworts showed various biological activities (cytotoxic, antimicrobial, and antiviral), we investigated their cytotoxic activity ...in several human cancer cell lines. From the methylene-chloride/methanol extract of the liverwort Pellia endiviifolia, three bis-bibenzyls of the perrottetin type were isolated, namely perrottetin E, 10′-hydroxyperrottetin E, and 10,10′-dihydroxyperrottetin E. The last two were found for the first time in this species. Their structures were resolved using 1D and 2D NMR, as well as by comparison with data in the literature. Cytotoxic activity of the isolated compounds was tested on three human leukemia cell lines, HL-60 (acute promyelocytic leukemia cells), U-937 (acute monocytic leukemia cells), and K-562 (human chronic myelogenous leukemia cells), as well as on human embryonal teratocarcinoma cell line (NT2/D1) and human glioblastoma cell lines A-172 and U-251, and compared to the previously isolated bis-bibenzyls (perrottetins) of similar structure. The isolated compounds exhibited modest activity against leukemia cells and significant activity against NT2/D1 and A-172. Overall, the most active cytotoxic compounds in this investigation were perrottetin E (1), isolated in this work from Pellia endiviifolia, and perrottetin F phenanthrene derivative (7), previously isolated from Lunularia cruciata and added for a comparison of their cytotoxic activity.
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