The aim of this review is to collect together the results of the numerous studies over the last two decades on the pharmacological properties of palmatine published in scientific databases like ...Scopus and PubMed, which are scattered across different publications. Palmatine, an isoquinoline alkaloid from the class of protoberberines, is a yellow compound present in the extracts from different representatives of Berberidaceae, Papaveraceae, Ranunculaceae, and Menispermaceae. It has been extensively used in traditional medicine of Asia in the treatment of jaundice, liver‐related diseases, hypertension, inflammation, and dysentery. New findings describe its possible applications in the treatment of civilization diseases like central nervous system‐related problems. This review intends to let this alkaloid come out from the shade of a more frequently described alkaloid: berberine. The toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and biological activities of this protoberberine alkaloid will be developed in this work.
Gastric cancer belongs to the heterogeneous malignancies and, according to the World Health Organization, it is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. The aim of this review is to provide ...an overview on the role of natural products of plant origin in the therapy of gastric cancer and to present the potentially active metabolites which can be used in the natural therapeutical strategies as the support to the conventional treatment. Many of the naturally spread secondary metabolites have been proved to exhibit chemopreventive properties when tested on the cell lines or in vivo. This manuscript aims to discuss the pharmacological significance of both the total extracts and the single isolated metabolites in the stomach cancer prevention and to focus on their mechanisms of action. A wide variety of plant-derived anticancer metabolites from different groups presented in the manuscript that include polyphenols, terpenes, alkaloids, or sulphur-containing compounds, underlines the multidirectional nature of natural products.
A number of studies have established the potential of chitosan and alginate-based edible film/coatings for preserving the quality attributes of fruits and vegetables. Findings demonstrate that these ...films/coatings act as a barrier on the surface of fruits and vegetables which causes higher moisture and water retention, create favourable micro-environments by optimizing the concentration of gases and delays ripening. Sincere efforts are being further made to improve the efficiency of edible films using functional additives such as phenolics, essential oils (EOs) and nano-forms. These additives have unlocked a new dimension for enhancing functional properties of alginate/chitosan-based films. These functional compounds are now emerging as an important component of edible films/coatings for prolonging shelf-life of fruits and vegetables. The present review comprehensively elaborates recent studies on functional additives and their mechanism of action. Here we also establish their proficiency in extending quality and shelf-life of various fruits including guava, pear, blueberries and vegetables like cucumber, capsicum and mushroom. Principles behind antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of additives in preventing the food spoilage are also reviewed. Competency of phenolics, EOs and nano-forms in extending the shelf-life without affecting the nutritional properties and safety aspects of the fruits and vegetables still require further attention.
Green tea contains a variety of biologically active constituents that are widely used in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Among them, simple catechins constitute a major group of compounds ...that is primarily responsible for the high biologic activity of green tea extracts. Therefore, the application of optimized extraction conditions may result in obtaining high value extracts. The main purpose of the study was to compare the content of polyphenols, mainly catechins, and the antioxidant activity of green tea extracts obtained by three different extraction methods: simple maceration, ultrasound extraction and accelerated solvent extraction using six various solvent systems. The quality of the extracts was evaluated by LC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS methodologies and spectrophotometric determinations. The obtained results revealed that catechins' extraction efficiency was identical for the three techniques studied. However, larger quantitative differences among the samples were observed when using different solvents. The total content of major catechins and gallic acid was within a very wide range of 10.2-842 mg/L. Ethyl acetate was by far the least effective extractant, regardless of the extraction technique used. After all, the solvent system composed of ethanol:water (1:1
) was proven to be the best to recover catechins and to deliver extracts with the highest antiradical activity.
Carduus nutans L. (Compositae) has been extensively used for medicinal purposes. As other representatives of the genus it is implemented in the treatment of liver disorders and used as diuretic and ...digestive agent. Previous studies have determined the predominant classes of secondary metabolites in Carduus species. Among the major representatives of their extracts flavonoids, phenolic acids, coumarins, sterols and terpenes were identified. The antiradical capacity of three extracts assessed in the DPPH test revealed the highest radical scavenging properties of methanol extract (the EC50 618±10.03 μg/mL) and based on these results it was selected for phenolic content determination. (TPC=61.49 mg/g). To understand better the induced pharmacological effects of the plant the aim of the study was to determine the composition of the methanol extract from the inflorescences of C. nutans and to study their phenolic composition. In order to determine the composition in a more efficient way, the crude extract was fractionated and subjected to hydrolyses. As a result more than twenty phenolic acids and flavonoids were identified in the extract and fractions by HPLC‐DAD and/or HPLC‐ESI‐TOF‐MS. The total extract was later subjected to fractionation by centrifugal partition chromatography using the Arizona system composed of hexane/ethyl acetate/methanol/water (0.7 : 4 : 0.8 : 4 v/v/v/v) to produce fractions enriched in flavonoids that are of high pharmacological significance.
Three curcuminoids: bisdemethoxycurcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and curcumin from turmeric were successfully separated by a high capacity solvent system composed of heptane: chloroform: methanol: water ...mixture (5: 6: 3: 2 v/v/v/v) tailored for centrifugal partition chromatographs at K‐values of 0.504, 1.057, 1.644, respectively. These three ferulic acid derivatives obtained at a purity rate exceeding 95% were analysed by an HPLC‐MS spectrometer. Turmeric extract inhibited the proliferation/viability of A549 human lung cancer, HT29 colon cancer, and T98G glioblastoma cell lines in (3‐4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide) tetrazolium reduction assay (MTT). Single curcuminoids significantly decreased the viability/proliferation of lung cancer cells in a dose‐dependent manner. However, total extract displayed the superior anticancer activity in the investigated cell lines. Crude extract in combination with cisplatin augmented the decrease in the viability of cancer cells compared with single compound treatment in A549 lung cancer cells. Total extract of Curcuma longa could be regarded as being more effective against lung cancer cells in vitro than its separated compounds.
Summary
In this study, an optimised high hydrostatic pressure process (600 MPa, 15 min, 55 and 65 °C) caused elimination of microbial levels in beetroot/carrot juice (80:20 v/v, pH 4.0) after 28 days ...of storage (4 °C) (psychrotrophic bacteria, yeast and mould counts below the limit of detection = 0 log cfu mL−1). Room temperature (20 °C) was insufficient for the complete elimination of psychrotrophic bacteria (0.9–2.0 log cfu mL−1 after 7–28 days of storage). No significant (P < 0.05) changes in the polyphenol content were observed (1.11 ± 0.13 in control vs. 1.13 ± 0.13 mg gallic acid mL−1 in samples treated at 65 °C). No significant (P < 0.05) changes in the antioxidant, antiradical activity and biological properties of the high‐pressure processing (HPP)‐treated juice were observed in the studies involving CCD 841 CoTr and HT29 cell lines. The HPLC‐MS analysis confirmed increase in isobetalain, decarboxybetalain and betalain content (by 100%, 14% and 10%) and loss of vulgaxanthin I (by 65%) after HPP at 65 °C. The innovative character of this paper stems from the comprehensive quality assessment (especially experiments involving cell lines) of high‐quality, safe beetroot–carrot juice that retains a major part of its bioactive compounds.
Microbial contamination in beetroot/carrot juice is efficiently eliminated by HPP (600 MPa, 55 or 65 °C). Beetroot/carrot juice after HPP retains the microbiological safety for 28 days. Beetroot/carrot juice after HPP (600 MPa, 55 and 65 °C) retains the high antioxidant activity of the unprocessed counterpart. The content of betalain, isobetalain, vulgaxanthin I and decarboxybetanin is modified in beetroot/carrot juice after HPP, as confirmed by HPLC‐QTOF‐MS. Biological properties of beetroot/carrot juice after HPP towards selected intestinal cell lines are unaltered by the process (600 MPa, 55 or 65 °C).
A comprehensive study on the composition and antioxidant properties of black tea samples with a chemometric approach was performed via LC-ESI-Q-TOF-MS, DPPH radical scavenging assay, and ...Folin-Ciocalteu assay (TPC). Marked differences between the teas from seven different countries (China, India, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Sri Lanka) were shown. The Indian samples demonstrated the highest total catechin content (184.8 mg/100 mL), the largest TPC and DPPH scavenging potential (58.2 mg/100 mL and 84.5%, respectively). The applied principal component analysis (PCA) and ANOVA revealed several correlations between the level of catechins in tea infusions. EC (epicatechin), ECG (epicatechin gallate), EGC (epigallocatechin), and EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) content was not correlated with DPPH, gallic acid, and TPC; however, a strong correlation of EC and ECG between themselves and a negative correlation of these two catechins with EGCG and EGC was noted. Interestingly, simple catechins were not found to be responsible for antioxidant properties of the black teas. The samples collected in the higher altitudes were similar.
As the number of central nervous system (CNS) drug candidates is constantly growing, there is a strong need for precise a priori prediction of whether an administered compound is able to cross the ...blood-brain barrier (BBB). The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability to cross the BBB of triterpenoid saponins occurring in
roots. The research was carried out using in silico methods combined with postmortem studies on the brain tissues of mice treated with isolated astragaloside IV (AIV). Firstly, to estimate the ability to cross the BBB by the tested saponins, new quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models were established. The reliability and predictability of the model based on the values of the blood-brain barrier penetration descriptor (logBB), the difference between the
-octanol/water and cyclohexane/water logP (ΔlogP), the logarithm of n-octanol/water partition coefficient (logP
), and the excess molar refraction (E) were both confirmed using the applicability domain (AD). The critical leverage value h* was found to be 0.128. The relationships between the standardized residuals and the leverages were investigated here. The application of an in vitro acetylcholinesterase-inhibition test showed that AIV can be recognized as the strongest inhibitor among the tested compounds. Therefore, it was isolated for the postmortem studies on brain tissues and blood using semi-preparative HPLC with the mobile phase composed of water, methanol, and ethyl acetate (1.7:2.1:16.2
/
/
). The results of the postmortem studies on the brain tissues show a regular dependence of the final concentration of AIV in the analyzed brain samples of animals treated with 12.5 and 25 mg/kg b.w. of AIV (0.00012299 and 0.0002306 mg, respectively, per one brain). Moreover, the AIV logBB value was experimentally determined and found to be equal to 0.49 ± 0.03.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors remain the mainstay of symptomatic treatment for Alzheimer's disease. The natural world is rich in acetylcholinesterase inhibitory molecules, and research efforts to ...identify novel leads is ongoing.
, commonly known as reindeer lichen, is an abundant lichen species found in Irish Boglands. The methanol extract of Irish
was identified as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitory lead using qualitative TLC-bioautography in a screening program. To identify the active components, the extract was deconvoluted using a successive extraction process with hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol to isolate the active fraction. The hexane extract demonstrated the highest inhibitory activity and was selected for further phytochemical investigations. Olivetolic acid, 4-
-methylolivetolcarboxylic acid, perlatolic acid and usnic acid were isolated and characterized using ESI-MS and two-dimensional NMR techniques. LC-MS analysis also determined the presence of the additional usnic acid derivatives, placodiolic and pseudoplacodiolic acids. Assays of the isolated components confirmed that the observed anticholinesterase activity of
can be attributed to usnic acid (25% inhibition at 125 µM) and perlatolic acid (20% inhibition at 250 µM), which were both reported inhibitors. This is the first report of isolation of olivetolic and 4-
-methylolivetolcarboxylic acids and the identification of placodiolic and pseudoplacodiolic acids from
.
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