Antioxidant Activities of Nine Selected Culinary Spices from China

The antioxidant activities and the total phenolic contents of the water and/or ethanol extracts of the nine selected culinary spices from China were systematically investigated. Both ethanol extracts and water extracts had high ability of 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl（DPPH） radical scavenging, 2, 2＇-azinobis（3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid）（ABTS） radical scavenging and ferric reducing antioxidant power（FRAP）. The ethanol extract of Sichuan pepper showed the highest ability of DPPH radical scavenging. The extract with the highest ABTS radical scavenging effect was that of ethanol extract of cinnamon. Both ethanol and water extracts of cinnamon possessed the high ferric reducing antioxidant power（FRAP） with the values of 4 541.87 and 1 134.52 μmol of Fe（Ⅱ）/g. The extracts with high hydroxyl radical-mediated deoxyribose degradation were all the ethanol extracts as follows： cinnamon, bay leaf, Sichuan pepper, star anise and fennel. The extracts with high antioxidant activities also had the high contents of the phenols. The study indicated that these spices might be potentially be used as natural antioxidants in food.

Transient carriage and low-level colonization of orally administrated lytic and temperate phages in the gut of mice

Many studies have shown the efficacy of phage therapy in reducing gastrointestinal pathogens.However,it is unclear whether phages can successfully colonize the gut when administered in an adequate amount for a long time.About 1×10^(8)PFU/mL of purified lytic phage PA13076 or temperate phage BP96115 were fed daily to mice via drinking water over 31 days,to elucidate the distribution of phages in the gastrointestinal tract.At day 16 and 31,six different segments of the gastrointestinal tract with their contents,including stomach,duodenum,jejunum,ileum,cecum,colon,and fresh feces,were aseptically collected.The phage titers were determined using the double-layered plate method with S.Enteritidis ATCC 13076 or S.Pullorum SPu-109 used as host cells.The results indicated that a small portion of administered phages survived exposure to gastric acid and entered the intestinal tract.The prevalence of phages in the gastrointestinal tract was lower than 1%of the primary phage count.Highest phage titers were detected in the cecum with 10^(4)~10^(5)PFU/g,and most of the phages were eliminated from the body via feces with 10^(6)PFU/g.On day 16 and day 31,the same level of phage titers in different segments of the gastrointestinal tract indicated that the colonization of phages had reached saturation at day 16.These results demonstrate transient phage carriage and low-level colonization of orally administrated lytic and temperate gut phages in mice.