Total polyphenols and flavonoids content, phenolics profile by HPLC, and antioxidant activity of ten fruit beer produced adding fruits during the fermentation process were analyzed. The fruits were: ...cherry, raspberry, peach, apricot, grape, plum, orange and apple. Antioxidant activity, total polyphenols and flavonoids content were considerably higher in most of the fruit beers in respect to conventional, no-fruit beers. Cherries beers exhibit the highest values, followed by grape, plum and orange beers. An enrichment was observed in catechin and quercetin content in all fruit beers examined. Myricetin and resveratrol were also detected in most of the fruit beers. Among phenolic acids, an enrichment in chlorogenic, neochlorogenic, p-coumaric and caffeic acids was measured in most of the fruit beers in respect to conventional beers. Our findings show that fruits addition during the fermentation process considerably increased the antioxidant activity of beer and qualitatively and quantitatively improved its phenolics profile.
•Fruits addition affects antioxidant activity and phenolics content of beer.•Fruits beers showed stronger antioxidant activity compared to conventional non-fruits beers.•Higher content of bioactive compounds was measured in fruits beers in respect to non-fruits beers.•Cherries, grape, plum and orange beers had the highest phenolics level and antioxidant activity.•Catechin, quercetin, myricetin, resveratrol and chlorogenic acids were detected in fruits beers.
Chlamydia are intracellular bacteria associated to serious human disease. A vaccine has proved difficult to obtain so far, and current opinions agree that multi-antigen combinations may be required ...to induce optimal protective responses. In order to identify new potential vaccine candidates, we recently screened the
Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cpn) genome and described 53 recombinant proteins which elicited antibodies binding to purified Cpn cells. We now report that six proteins in this group can also induce in vitro neutralizing antibodies. Antibody specificity for the corresponding antigens was assessed by immunoblot analysis of 2DE Cpn protein maps. Furthermore, four of the six in vitro neutralizing antigens (Pmp2, Pmp10, OmpH-like and enolase) could inhibit Cpn dissemination in a hamster model. The results show that these Cpn proteins are immunoaccessible in infectious EBs, and recommend further investigation on their value as vaccine components.
Retinol transport and metabolism have been well characterized in mammals; however, very little is known in fish. To study the mechanism by which fish retinol-binding protein (RBP) is able to remain ...in plasma besides its small molecular size, we isolated RBP cDNA from a carp liver cDNA library. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with that of known vertebrate RBPs showed that carp RBP has high homology to the other cloned vertebrate RBPs, but it lacks the COOH-terminal tetrapeptide, RNL(S)L, which is most likely involved in the interaction with transthyretin in mammalian RBPs. In addition, the primary structure of carp RBP contains two consensus N-linked glycosylation sites that represent a unique feature. We have obtained experimental evidence, by in vitro and in vivo expression experiments, that both sites are indeed glycosylated. We have also characterized the protein as a complex type N-linked glycoprotein by lectin binding assay, neuraminidase and endoglycosidase H and F digestion. Inhibition of glycosylation by tunicamycin treatment of transfected cells caused a great reduction of RBP secretion. Since kidney filtration of anionic proteins is less than half that of neutral protein of the same size, this finding strongly suggests that the amount of carp RBP filtration through kidney glomeruli may be reduced by a glycosylation-dependent increase in the molecular size and negative charge of the protein. A second unique feature of carp RBP as secretory protein is the presence of a nonconserved NH(2)-terminal hydrophobic domain, which functions as an insertion signal but is not cleaved cotranslationally and remains in the secreted RBP.
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