•Bioactive properties of Bambara bean protein hydrolysates were determined.•Hydrolysates produced by alcalase showed higher ACE and DPP-IV inhibitory properties.•Effect of simulated gastrointestinal ...digestion on bioactive properties was determined.•Peptides with molecular weight range 200–400 Da were important for bioactivity.•In silico and mass spectrometry analysis presented potential bioactive peptides.
Protein isolate was hydrolysed by Alcalase, thermolysin and trypsin. BBPH produced by Alcalase showed highest angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory properties (IC50: 52 µg/mL). Hydrolysates produced by Alcalase and thermolysin exhibited similar dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV) inhibitory activity (IC50: 1.73 mg/mL), while low inhibitory activity was observed for hydrolysate produced by trypsin. BBPH also showed protective effect against oxidative stress with significant 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and ferrous chelating activity. Bioactive peptides of BBPH produced by thermolysin showed better resistance to simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGID), while the DPP-IV and ACE inhibitory properties were significantly reduced. Molecular weight distribution showed significant reduction in peptides of the molecular weight range 200–400 Da in BBPH produced by Alcalase, after SGID. LC-ESI-TOF-MS and in silico analysis showed the presence of potential peptides with both ACE and DPP-IV inhibitory properties in BBPH produced by thermolysin.
In this study, the α-glucosidase (maltase-glucoamylase: MGAM) and α-amylase inhibitory properties elicited by xylooligosaccharides (XOSs) prepared from dulse xylan were analysed as a potential ...mechanism to control postprandial hyperglycaemia for type-2 diabetes prevention and treatment. Xylan was purified from red alga dulse powder and used for enzymatic hydrolysis using Sucrase X to produce XOSs. Fractionation of XOSs produced xylobiose (X2), β-(1→3)-xylosyl xylobiose (DX3), xylotriose (X3), β-(1→3)-xylosyl-xylotriose (DX4), and a dulse XOS mixture with
≥ 4 xylose units (DXM). The different fractions exhibited moderate MGAM (IC
= 11.41-23.44 mg/mL) and α-amylase (IC
= 18.07-53.04 mg/mL) inhibitory activity, which was lower than that of acarbose. Kinetics studies revealed that XOSs bound to the active site of carbohydrate digestive enzymes, limiting access to the substrate by competitive inhibition. A molecular docking analysis of XOSs with MGAM and α-amylase clearly showed moderate strength of interactions, both hydrogen bonds and non-bonded contacts, at the active site of the enzymes. Overall, XOSs from dulse could prevent postprandial hyperglycaemia as functional food by a usual and continuous consumption.
In this paper, we propose a spatial super-resolution method for light fields, which combines the SR-BM3D single image super-resolution filter and the recently introduced LFBM5D light field denoising ...filter. The proposed algorithm iteratively alternates between an LFBM5D filtering step and a back-projection step. The LFBM5D filter creates disparity compensated 4D patches which are then stacked together with similar 4D patches along a 5 th dimension. The 5D patches are then filtered in the 5D transform domain to enforce a sparse coding of the high-resolution light field, which is a powerful prior to solve the ill-posed super-resolution problem. The back-projection step then impose the consistency between the known low-resolution light field and the-high resolution estimate. We further improve this step by using image guided filtering to remove ringing artifacts. Results show that significant improvement can be achieved compared to state-of-the-art methods, for both light fields captured with a lenslet camera or a gantry.
•Protein isolate, albumin, globulin, and glutelin prepared from Moringa oleifera defatted flour had their pI at pH 8; 4; 2, and 6, respectively;•The β-sheet conformation is the foremost secondary ...structure in protein isolate, albumin, globulin, glutelin, and prolamin;•Heat treatment induced structural modifications in the protein fractions and protein isolate and impacted functional properties;•Increasing soluble glutelin enhanced solubility and increasing soluble globulin improved emulsifying capacity.
Knowledge on how food processing conditions and protein composition can modulate individual or food matrix protein functionality is crucial for designing new protein ingredients. In this regard, we investigated how heat treatment and protein composition influence physicochemical and functional properties of Moringa oleifera seed protein isolate. Results showed that changes in processing temperature induced modifications in the conformation affecting the hydrophobic core of proteins. Protein isolate was more soluble at room temperature whereas prolamin fraction presented high solubility at 70 °C. Glutelin showed higher emulsifying properties at all temperatures. Protein composition also significantly affected physicochemical and functional properties of protein isolate. Increasing soluble glutelin enhanced solubility while increasing albumin, globulin and glutelin decreased hydrophobicity of the isolate. Likewise, increasing soluble globulin improved emulsifying capacity, and emulsion stability of the isolate was negatively affected by increase in albumin and glutelin. These findings could enhance application of Moringa oleifera protein in food formulations.
Objectives It is commonly accepted that motor imagery (MI), i.e. the mental simulation of a movement, leads to an increased size of cortical motor evoked potentials (MEPs), although the magnitude of ...this effect differs between studies. Its impact on the spinal level is even more variable in the literature. Such discrepancies may be explained by many different experimental approaches. Therefore, the question of the optimal stimulation parameters to assess both spinal and corticospinal excitabilities remains open. Methods H-reflexes and MEPs of the triceps surae were evoked in 11 healthy subjects during MI, weak voluntary contraction (CON) and rest (REST). In each condition, the full recruitment curve from the response threshold to maximal potential was investigated. Results At stimulation intensities close to the maximal response, MEP amplitude was increased by CON compared to REST on the triceps surae. No effect of the different conditions was found on the H-reflex recruitment curve, except a small variation beyond maximal H-reflex in the soleus muscle. Conclusion Based on our results, we recommend to assess corticospinal excitability between 70% and 100% of maximal MEP intensity instead of the classical use of a percentage of the motor threshold and to elicit H-reflexes on the ascending part of the recruitment curve.
This study investigated the influence of the torque produced by plantar flexor muscles on cortical and spinal excitability during lengthening and shortening voluntary contractions. To that purpose, ...modulations of motor-evoked potential (MEP) and Hoffmann (H) reflex were compared in the soleus (SOL) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) during anisometric submaximal and maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the plantar flexor muscles. For the submaximal shortening and lengthening contractions, the target torque was set at 50% of their respective MVC force. The results indicate that the amplitudes of both MEP and H-reflex responses, normalized to the maximal M wave, were significantly (P < 0.05) lower during lengthening compared with shortening submaximal contraction. For these two parameters, the reduction reached, respectively, 22.1 and 31.9% for the SOL and 34.5 and 29.3% for the MG. During MVC, normalized MEP and H reflex of the SOL were both reduced significantly by 19.9% (P < 0.05) and 29.9% (P < 0.001) during lengthening and shortening contraction, respectively, whereas no significant change (P > 0.05) was observed for MG. In addition, the silent period in the ongoing electromyogram (EMG) activity following the MEP was significantly (P < 0.01) briefer during lengthening than shortening contractions but did not differ (P > 0.05) between contraction intensities and muscles. Together, these results indicate that cortical and spinal mechanisms involved in the modulation of muscle activation during shortening and lengthening contractions differ between synergistic muscles according to the torque produced. Data further document previous studies reporting that the specific modulation of muscle activation during lengthening contraction is not torque dependent.
It is not known yet whether the neurophysiological specificity of eccentric, concentric, and isometric contractions can also be observed when these are mentally simulated. Therefore, our aim was to ...assess corticospinal excitability during motor imagery (MI) of different contraction types and to test whether a passive movement during MI could have additional effects.
Twelve young participants imagined contractions of the wrist flexors, firstly with the arm motionless (static mode) and second, with a congruent passive movement (wrist extension during eccentric MI and wrist flexion during concentric MI). Motor-evoked potentials (MEP) and H-reflexes were elicited in flexor carpi radialis (FCR) at rest and during the three types of MI. As a secondary outcome, the MEP of one antagonist (extensor carpi radialis), elicited concomitantly with FCR MEP recording, were also analyzed.
In static mode, FCR MEP were facilitated during isometric (P = 0.046) and concentric (P = 0.039) MI, but not during eccentric MI (P = 0.902). With passive congruent movements, FCR MEP were enhanced during all imagined contraction types, including eccentric (P = 0.047). FCR H-reflexes increased only during eccentric MI accompanied with wrist extension (P = 0.003). Extensor carpi radialis MEP were modulated only when a passive congruent movement was provided (P = 0.040).
Like actual contractions, eccentric MI exhibits specific neural correlates, compared with isometric and concentric MI, which should be considered when using this modality for training. The present results showed that adding passive movements congruent to the eccentric MI task would enhance its impact over corticospinal structures.
Motor imagery (MI) is the mental simulation of movement, without the corresponding muscle contraction. Whereas the activation of cortical motor areas during MI is established, the involvement of ...spinal structures is still under debate. We used original and complementary techniques to probe the influence of MI on spinal structures. Amplitude of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), cervico-medullary-evoked potentials (CMEPs), and Hoffmann (H)-reflexes of the flexor carpi radialis (FCR) muscle and of the triceps surae muscles was measured in young, healthy subjects at rest and during MI. Participants were asked to imagine maximal voluntary contraction of the wrist and ankle, while the targeted limb was fixed (static condition). We confirmed previous studies with an increase of FCR MEPs during MI compared with rest. Interestingly, CMEPs, but not H-reflexes, also increased during MI, revealing a possible activation of subcortical structures. Then, to investigate the effect of MI on the spinal network, we used two techniques: 1) passive lengthening of the targeted muscle via an isokinetic dynamometer and 2) conditioning of H-reflexes with stimulation of the antagonistic nerve. Both techniques activate spinal inhibitory presynaptic circuitry, reducing the H-reflex amplitude at rest. In contrast, no reduction of H-reflex amplitude was observed during MI. These findings suggest that MI has modulatory effects on the spinal neuronal network. Specifically, the activation of low-threshold spinal structures during specific conditions (lengthening and H-reflex conditioning) highlights the possible generation of subliminal cortical output during MI.
The Hoffmann reflex has been the tool most commonly used in exercise studies to investigate modulations in spinal excitability. However, the evolution of electromyographic responses with the increase ...in stimulation intensity has rarely been assessed when the muscle is active. The purpose of this study was thus to identify that part of the recruitment curve at which the investigation of the Hoffmann reflex is the most reliable in assessing spinal excitability during muscle contraction. Two recruitment curves were determined from the soleus and the medialis gastrocnemius, in passive and active (50% of maximal isometric voluntary contraction) conditions. No differences were found between the H reflexes in the two conditions in the ascending part of the recruitment curves, while the intensity necessary to elicit the same percentage of maximal H wave was different in the descending part of the curve, up to the maximal M wave. We concluded that during motor tasks, changes in spinal excitability should be assessed by recording H responses in the ascending part of the curve, where modulations do not depend either on the background electrical activity of the muscle tested or on methodological considerations.
Non‐technical summary The neural control of muscle activity differs during voluntary shortening and lengthening contractions. In this paper, we show that the relative contribution of both cortical ...and spinal mechanisms to the modulation of neural activation is specific during lengthening contraction and differs between synergist muscles. Knowledge of spinal and corticospinal excitabilities modulations during shortening and lengthening muscle contraction improves our understanding of the processes that underlies the neural control of muscles during dynamic contractions.
This study was designed to investigate the cortical and spinal mechanisms involved in the modulations of neural activation during lengthening compared with isometric and shortening maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs). Two muscles susceptible to different neural adjustments at the spinal level, the soleus (SOL) and medial gastrocnemius (MG), were compared. Twelve healthy males participated in at least two experimental sessions designed to assess corticospinal and spinal excitabilities. We compared the modulation of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in response to transcranial magnetic stimulation and Hoffmann reflexes (H‐reflexes) during isometric and anisometric MVCs. The H‐reflex and MEP responses, recorded during lengthening and shortening MVCs, were compared with those obtained during isometric MVCs. The results indicate that the maximal amplitude of both MEP and H‐reflex in the SOL were smaller (P < 0.01) during lengthening MVCs compared with isometric and shortening MVCs but similar (P > 0.05) in MG for all three muscle contraction types. The silent period that follows maximal MEPs was reduced (P < 0.01) during lengthening MVCs in the SOL but not the MG. Similar observations were obtained regardless of the initial length of the MG muscle. Collectively, the current results indicate that the relative contribution of both cortical and spinal mechanisms to the modulation of neural activation differs during lengthening MVCs and between two synergist muscles. The comparison of SOL and MG responses further suggests that the specific modulation of the corticospinal excitability during lengthening MVCs depends mainly on pre‐ and postsynaptic inhibitory mechanisms acting at the spinal level.