Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) wine as a novel potential functional food product

Throughout human civilization, elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) has been used as a traditional drug and addition to various dishes. Although it is a widespread plant species, it is still being researched and rarely used to obtain new products. In this study, we focused on the chemical and phytochemical composition and biological and pharmacological effects of elderberry wine, obtained by applying different temperature treatments (without temperature treatment – W1;60 °C, 5 min – W2;60 °C, 10 min – W3;and 70 °C, 5 min – W4 ). HPLC-MS/MS and spectrophotometric techniques determined the chemical and phytochemical profiles of obtained wines. The main compounds in analyzed wines were p-Hydroxybenzoic, protocatechuic and chlorogenic acids, quercetin, quercetin-3-O-hexoside, and rutin . To assess the biological potential, antioxidant, neuroprotective (acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase inhibition), antityrosinase, and antidiabetic (amylase inhibition and glucosidase inhibition) abilities were examined. Wine W4 showed the strongest antioxidant activity, which correlated well with the high phenol content. The best inhibitory effect of β-glucosidase was observed in wine W3 . However, the most potent tyrosinase inhibitor was wine W4 . The presented results prove elderberry wine's high biological and industrial potential and open new avenues for formulating new products that could be brought to market.

In vitro antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory studies,computational analysis and chemodiversity of an emergency food plant Caralluma edulis(Edgew.)Benth.ex Hook.f:A multifunctional approach to provide new ingredients for nutraceuticals and functional foods

Caralluma edulis is a leafless succulent herb native to India and Pakistan,where it is used as emergency food and as potential herbal medicine.It was investigated for its bioactive chemicals and further medicinal properties.The objective of the current study was to accomplish the chemical and biological characterization of C.edulis.Chemical profiling was done through estimation of total bioactive contents and UHPLMS analysis.Biological screening was achieved through six different antioxidant and enzyme inhibition assays.Estimation of its phenolic and flavonoid contents revealed that ethyl acetate fraction(Ce-E)contains 14.15 mg GAE/g extract and 26.13 mg RE/g extract of phenolics and flavonoids,respectively,followed by the methanolic(Ce-M)and the water(Ce-W)soluble fractions.In free radical inhibitory assays,Ce-E fraction also exhibited highest activity(DPPH:19.72 mg TE/g extract,ABTS:48.66 mg TE/g extract)followed by Ce-M,whereas,in CUPRAC and FRAP assays,all the extracts,except water fraction,exhibited nearly equal potential in the range of 53.85–57.96 and 25.42–32.12 mg TE/g extract,respectively.In metal chelating antioxidant assay,only Ce-M and Ce-W fractions displayed considerable activities(25.88 and 23.55 mg EDTAE/g extract respectively),whereas,Ce-H exhibited the highest activity in phosphomolybdenum assay(1.03 mmolTE/g extract),against BChE(6.43 mg GALAE/g extract),α-glucosidase andα-amylase(6.98 and 0.47 mmol ACAE/g,respectively)and tyrosinase(64.46 mg KAE/g extract)enzymes.Ce-M and Ce-E also exhibited significant activity against tyrosinase(59.85 and 58.40 mg KAE/g extract,respectively).Crude methanolic extract(Ce-M)was analyzed to unveil its secondary metabolic picture;the UHPLCMS analysis discloses 105 compounds as phenolic acids,flavonoids,steroids and their glycosides,which makes the C.edulis extract a strong candidate for nutraceutical and functional food ingredient.Some of the metabolites were docked against all the tested enzymes to predict mode of actions and to substantiate the pharmaceutical nature of C.edulis.

Gathering scientific evidence for a new bioactive natural ingredient:The combination between chemical profiles and biological activities of Flueggea virosa extracts

Flueggea virosa (Roxb. ex Willd.) Royle is a plant with several traditional uses in tropical countries. To study the potential usefulness, extracts from stem barks and leaves of F. virosa were obtained with different solvents. The phytochemical composition was assessed using LC-MS and NMR. Triterpenes, as oleanolic (0.05-88.09 mg/g extract), and ursolic (0.03-94.36 mg/g extract) acids were determined. In addition, ellagic and gallic acid derivatives were present in large concentrations in some of the extracts. Antioxidant (radical scavenging, reduction ability, and metal chelating) and enzyme inhibitory (cholinesterase, tyrosinase, amylase, and glucosidase) effects were assessed by in vitro chemical assays. The methanol extracts and infusions from both parts show higher antioxidant ability when compared with ethyl acetate extracts, and the antioxidant capacity was correlated with the total phenolic contents of the tested extracts. The extracts demonstrate enzyme inhibitory abilities on AChE and BChE, and multivariate approaches allowed for correlating the activities with the presence of triterpenoids (R > 0.8). Furthermore, molecular docking was used to get insights into the interactions between the triterpenoids and the tested enzymes. Together, these results indicate that F. virosa represents a significant source of naturally-occurring bioactive compounds that can be exploited as a new ingredient for the development of novel functional products with promising biological properties.

Phytochemical composition,biological propensities,and in-silico studies of Crateva adansonii DC.:A natural source of bioactive compounds

The current research work aimed at the phytochemical,biological,and in-silico properties of hydro-methanol extract and n-hexane fraction of Crateva adansonii aerial parts.Total bioactive content and UHPLC-MS analysis were used to determine the phytochemical composition.Regarding biological activities,antioxidant(DPPH,ABTS,FRAP,CUPRAC,phosphomolybdenum,and metal chelation)and enzyme inhibition(againstα-amylase,tyrosinase,acetylcholinesterase-AChE,and butyrylcholinesterase-BChE)activities were assessed.The hydro-methanol extract contained higher phenolic(28.09 mg GAE/g extract)and flavonoid(65.61 mg RE/g extract)contents,which might be correlated with the higher antioxidant potential of this extract.For the enzyme assays,the n-hexane fraction was most active against BChE andα-amylase,while the methanol extract presented higher inhibition values against AChE and tyrosinase enzymes.Likewise,different phytocompounds have been tentatively identified by UHPLC-MS of hydro-methanol extract;most of these belonged to phenolic and flavonoid classes.Furthermore,three important identified phytocompounds(isovitexin,robinetin 3-rutinoside,and luteolin 7-robinobioside),were selected for in-silico computational studies against the tyrosinase enzyme.The present investigation revealed that the studied extract/fraction of C.adansonii are likely sources of phytoconstituents identified through UHPLC-MS with considerable antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory properties.To conclude,the evaluated plant should be further investigated for the isolation of bioactive molecules which can be utilized in phytopharmaceuticals.

Artisanal fortified beers:Brewing,enrichment,HPLC-DAD analysis and preliminary screening of antioxidant and enzymatic inhibitory activities

In this study an artisanal“Porter style”beer has been enriched with diverse natural bioactive substances,following all-grain brewing method.Common beer generally contains a poor content of phenolic acids which confers a low antioxidant power and nutritional value,also due to the presence of ethanol.However in this work we aimed to enrich beer with different flavonoids and other food supplements like taurine,resveratrol and caffeine,thus enhancing its nutritional value and energizing properties.A series of flavonoid/phenol-enriched artisanal beers have been prepared,then sample of each has been tested in vitro to evaluate antioxidant activity,chelating power and enzymatic inhibition capacity.Beer samples were also analysed with HPLC-DAD system to determinate flavonoid and phenol contents.Results show increased nutritional values and significant antioxidant properties in comparison with not-fortified beer as control.