Bromelain: an overview of industrial application and purification strategies

Extraction and crosslinking of bromelain aggregates for improved stability and reusability from pineapple processing waste

The present study is first of its kind that focuses upon the extraction of bromelain from pineapple core waste and stabilising it as insoluble cross-linked aggregates. The influence of process variables such as the choice of precipitant, type of cross-linker, concentration of cross-linker and the reaction time for cross-linking step was investigated upon the activity recovery of bromelain cross-linked aggregates. The optimization of this biocatalyst preparation specifically recovered 87% of the enzymatic activity available in pineapple core waste by ammonium sulphate (60%, w/v) precipitation followed by cross-linking for 4 h with 80 mM glutaraldehyde. Cross-linked bromelain aggregates were thermally more stable and exhibited higher pH stability in comparison to free bromelain. The cross-linked bromelain aggregates exhibited higher operational stability in different organic solvents at 4 °C. The highest operational stability (% stability given in parenthesis) was observed in acetone (100%) followed by hexane (53.6%), ethyl acetate (39.6%), ethanol (32.5%) and chloroform (14.9%). The kinetic studies revealed higher Km value (5.45 mM) after the formation of cross-linked bromelain aggregates as compared to free bromelain (5.04 mM) with almost similar Vmax values. Cross-linked bromelain aggregates also showed significant reusability characteristics with an activity retention of >85% after 5-time cycles. Such recyclability of bromelain cross-linked aggregates could lead to potential industrial applications in both food and non-food sector. In addition, the present extraction method avoids costs related to purification and expensive immobilization carriers.

Potential drug delivery nanosystems for improving tumor penetration

Nanosystems, as one of the most important drug delivery systems, play a crucial rule in tumor therapy. However, the deep tumor penetration is retarded by the tumor physiological factors and nanomedicine properties. In this review, we firstly elaborate the factors which impact tumor penetration, including the tumor physiological factors and nanomedicine properties. Then, the latest and potential drug delivery nanosystems for improving tumor penetration are summarized and analyzed in detail. Moreover, recent combination therapies for improving penetration are described to enhance penetration. Finally, we summarize the typical clinical therapies of potential drug delivery nanosystems.

Potentially Bioactive Metabolites from Pineapple Waste Extracts and Their Antioxidant and α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Activities by 1H NMR

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) waste is a promising source of metabolites for therapeutics, functional foods, and cosmeceutical applications. This study strives to characterize the complete metabolite profiles of a variety of MD2 pineapple waste extracts. Metabolomics strategies were utilized to identify bioactive metabolites of this variety prepared with different solvent ratios. Each pineapple waste extract was first screened for total phenolic content, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. The highest TPC was found in all samples of the peel, crown, and core extracted using a 50% ethanol ratio, even though the results were fairly significant than those obtained for other ethanol ratios. Additionally, crown extracted with a 100% ethanol ratio demonstrated the highest potency in DPPH and NO scavenging activity, with IC₅₀ values of 296.31 and 338.52 µg/mL, respectively. Peel extracted with 100% ethanol exhibited the highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity with an IC₅₀ value of 92.95 µg/mL. Then, the extracts were analyzed and the data from ¹H NMR were processed using multivariate data analysis. A partial least squares and correlogram plot suggested that 3-methylglutaric acid, threonine, valine, and α-linolenic acid were the main contributors to the antioxidant activities, whereas epicatechin was responsible for the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Relative quantification further supported that 100% crown extract was among the extracts that possessed the most abundant potential metabolites. The present study demonstrated that the crown and peel parts of MD2 pineapple extracted with 100% ethanol are potentially natural sources of antioxidants and α-glucosidase inhibitors, respectively.

Antioxidant and Antibacterial Peptides from Soybean Milk through Enzymatic- and Membrane-Based Technologies

Enzymatic hydrolysis of soybean milk proteins with cysteine protease papain was performed in an advanced bioreactor, operated with batch mode. In soybean milk protein hydrolysis reaction, enzyme and substrate ratio and reaction temperature were varied, ranging from 0.029:100–0.457:100 and 30–60 °C, respectively. The degree of hydrolysis of soybean milk proteins was increased with increase of enzyme and substrate (soybean milk protein) ratio. However, the degree of hydrolysis was increased due to change of reaction temperature from 30 °C to 60 °C with enzyme and substrate ratio 0.229:100 and was reduced when hydrolysis reaction was performed with enzyme and substrate ratio 0.11:100 at hydrolysis temperature 60 °C. Antioxidant capacity of enzyme-treated milk had a similar trend with degree of hydrolysis. In a later exercise, a membrane bioreactor was adopted for continuous production of antioxidant and antibacterial peptides from soybean milk. The membrane bioreactor was operated for 12 h with constant feeding. Ceramic-made tubular membrane with a pore size 20 nm was used. Application of static turbulence promoter in a membrane separation process was investigated and its positive effects, with respect to higher permeate flux and lower energy consumption in filtration process, were proven. Antioxidant capacity and antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus of enzyme-hydrolyzed milk and permeate from membrane were confirmed.

Citrus limetta peels: a promising substrate for the production of multienzyme preparation from a yeast consortium

Citrus limettapeels (CLP), a waste material generated by juice industries, has scarcely been reported for the production of yeast enzymes. The study was conducted to obtain a multienzyme preparation from a yeast consortium under solid-state fermentation of CLP. The substrate, CLP, was pretreated using either acid or alkali, and factors affecting production of multienzyme were studied by generating two separate Plackett–Burman designs. Since, alkali-pretreated CLP yielded higher titers; therefore, significant factors affecting multienzyme preparation using this substrate were optimized by employing Box–Behnken design. The analysis revealed that under optimized conditions, i.e., cultivation of yeast strains for 72 h to alkali-pretreated CLP moistened with mineral salt medium having pH 5 yielded more than 10 IU mL−1of cellulase, xylanase, and amylase. The multienzyme was studied for its application to saccharify fruit and non-fruit wastes and for orange juice clarification. The data showed that the enzyme preparation could release 3.03 mg L−1 h−1of reducing sugars from various crude substrates and was able to reduce turbidity of orange juice by 11% with substantial decrease in viscosity and acidity. Hence, CLP appeared as a promising substrate to produce multienzyme preparation from yeast consortium.

Preparation of dendritic polymer-based magnetic carrier for application of bromelain separation and purification

Bromelain has wide applications in different industries, such as food, textile, and medicine. Traditional approaches for bromelain separation and purification from solution still have many problems, including unsatisfactory binding efficiency, time-consuming operation, and costly equipment. In the present study, a new type of dendritic polymer-based magnetic carrier (GO@Fe₃ O₄ @PEI-Cu²⁺ ) was first prepared for bromelain separation and purification in solution. The histidine existing in bromelain could bind to Cu²⁺ cations adsorbed on the surface of the magnetic carrier, and the magnetic carrier showed excellent performance for bromelain separation and purification in solution, with the adsorption capacity up to 357 mg/g. The magnetic carrier also exhibited excellent property in the aspect of recyclability. It was found that the magnetic carrier also presented desirable performance for the separation and purification of bromelain from the crude extract of pineapple peel, and the bromelain structure remained intact before and after elution process. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Considering many advantages of bromelain in the applications of pharmaceutical and food industries, this study is aimed at presenting a novel magnetic carrier with high stability and fabulous performance for bromelain separation and purification in solution and achieving the practical application that the magnetic carrier can efficiently separate bromelain from the crude extract of pineapple peel.

Bromelain-loaded chitosan nanofibers prepared by electrospinning method for burn wound healing in animal models

Bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes present in all tissues of pineapple (Ananas comosus). It is known as an efficient debriding agent in burn treatment. In this study, the efficiency of bromelain-loaded chitosan nanofibers for burn wounds repair was investigated in animal model. Chitosan nanofibers containing bromelain (2% and 4% w/v) were prepared by electrospinning method. The physicochemical characteristics of the synthetized nanofibers were evaluated. The release profile and activity of bromelain loaded in nanofibers were also assayed. Cytotoxicity test was carried out using Alamar blue. The burn healing effect of chitosan-2% w/v bromelain nanofiber was studied in the induced burn wounds in rats for 21 days. The efficacy of treatment was assessed by reduction of burn wound area and histological characteristics at different times. Chitosan-2% w/v bromelain showed the better physicochemical properties and release profile as well as low cytotoxicity than chitosan-4% w/v bromelain. The results also indicated that chitosan-2% w/v bromelain nanofiber was more efficient to heal burn skin compared to chitosan nanofiber alone in the animal model tested. The present study concludes that chitosan-2% w/v bromelain nanofiber possesses great wound healing activity and could be considered as an effective natural topical burn wound healing treatment.

A systematic reconsideration on proteases

Proteases are a group of large complex enzyme molecules that perform highly focused proteolysis functions. A vast quantity of the protease enzymes is predominantly sourced from microbial fermentation process, although proteases tend to natively present in plant, animals and humans. Proteases possess a pervasive importance in medical and pharmaceutical sector, because of its enriched specificity towards biomolecules. They are also actively encompassed in regulating certain physiological pathways. A distinct territory of human disorders is treated by substrate specific proteases. Enormous numbers of catalytic activities in habitual metabolism process of a living organism are protease dependent. Pilot scale researches and product development in industrial biotechnology sectors are wholly based on any one of the protease enzymes. The applications of the protease enzymes and its economic benefits of being an eco-friendly material are far-reaching. This review presents a brief overview on the classification and sources of various types of proteases. We describe the essential evidences of role of protease in different sectors. The proteases could be a potential relieves to harmful synthetic chemicals in distinctive industrial processes and thus gains global perception.

Production of Different Mushroom Protein Hydrolysates as Potential Flavourings in Chicken Soup Using Stem Bromelain Hydrolysis

The pleasant taste of edible mushrooms, which is attributed to their high protein content, makes them an attractive source for the production of protein hydrolysates with good taste properties. In the present work, different mushroom protein hydrolysates were produced from shiitake, oyster, bunashimeji and enoki mushrooms using stem bromelain hydrolysis at 0.5% (m/m) enzyme/substrate ratio at pH=6.5 and 40 °C for 20 h. The produced liquid mushroom protein hydrolysate yielded 0.77–0.92% crude protein (p>0.05). Bunashimeji mushroom protein hydrolysate was the lightest in colour, while shiitake mushroom protein hydrolysate was the darkest (p<0.05). Enoki mushroom protein hydrolysate had the highest dry matter content. There was no significant difference in the degree of hydrolysis among different mushroom protein hydrolysates (53.52–67.13%, p>0.05), with the highest yield of bunashimeji and the lowest of shiitake mushroom protein hydrolysate (p<0.05). Preference test of chicken soup with added different mushroom protein hydrolysates was performed using 58 untrained panellists to evaluate their taste-enhancing effect, compared to monosodium glutamate (MSG). Soup with MSG had the highest score for the tested attributes, while soups with bunashimeji and oyster mushroom protein hydrolysates showed higher aroma, taste, mouthfeel and overall preference scores than negative control, which contained neither MSG nor any of the hydrolysates (p<0.05). This finding suggests that bunashimeji and oyster mushroom protein hydrolysate have the potential to be used as taste enhancers in food applications.

Extraction and identification of endopeptidases in convection dried papaya and pineapple residues: A methodological approach for application to higher scale

The use of agro-industrial waste for application in the obtention of products with high added value has become a trend in recent years, especially in tropical countries whose main economic sector is agricultural exports. In the present study, an applicable method to food industry of extracting proteolytic enzymes from dryed papaya and pineapple residues by convection was developed. Different to other scientific reports the heat treatment at 40 °C of waste residues, to reach 20% moisture, allowed an increase in total soluble protein content and did not alter the proteolytic activity of the extracts when phosphate buffer pH 7.0 was used as solvent. In the residues evaluated as candidates for the extraction of endopeptidases, we observed that green dried papaya peel and dried pineapple core, had higher activity values (914.34 ± 25.47 U/mg and 2152.36 ± 75.99 U/mg, respectively). These results, combined with one-dimensional electrophoresis and protein identification methods by MALDI TOF-TOF, showed the presence of signal peptides characteristic of papain, bromelain and other endopeptidases previously reported in extracts of fresh papaya and pineapple residues. These findings show that the drying of the residues by convection does not alter neither the activity nor the structure of the proteolytic enzymes. Finally, it is confirmed that the use of 20% ammonium sulfate as a precipitating agent allows to reach an efficiency of 74% in different work scales the use of purification and identification protocols in a more adaptable way, making them the most promising waste in Colombia, due to its potential for the production of bromelain on a larger scale.

Bromelain Kinetics and Mechanism on Myofibril from Golden Pomfret (Trachinotus blochii)

Bromelain was used to tenderize golden pomfrets (Trachinotus blochii). The enzyme kinetic model was x=2.447×ln[1+(1332.21×E0S0-1.74)t], which indicated that the degree of hydrolysis (DH, x) was dependent on hydrolysis time (t), the initial concentration of myofibril (S₀ ) and bromelain (E₀ ). The relationship between the overall hydrolysis rate (v), S₀ , E₀ , and t is demonstrated as: v=(16.50(E0S0)-1.33)S0 exp {-2.447ln[1+(1332.21E0S0-1.74)t2]}. Sample of 0.40% E₀ /S₀ was further used to study the effects of hydrolysis time on the changes of proteins, peptides, free amino acids (FAA), and protein nanostructure. SDS-PAGE result showed that myosin heavy chain was degraded dramatically from 22.88% before treatment to 12.03% after 2 min bromelain treatment. Meanwhile, bromelain did not exhibit activity towards actin, trypomyosin, myosin light chain, and troponin C. A general increase of amino acids indicated the increased DH and the preferential cleavage sites of bromelain in the descending order of lysine, glutamic acid, glycine, ornithine, methionine sulfoxide, and alanine. Atomic force microscope images showed that the strip-like structure of myofibril was considerably degraded by bromelain, and the granulation of protein after 20 min indicated possible self-assembling of protein hydrolysate. Confocal laser scanning microscopy further confirmed the degradation of myofibril proteins and formation of protein aggregates.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Meat of golden pomfrets is tough, thus not idea for fish balls or fish cakes. Tenderization is essential to achieve desired texture and consumer acceptance, especially for this fish meat with intrinsic hard texture. Bromelain can be extracted from pineapple processing waste. Enzymatic kinetics was studied to instruct industry to control the tenderness of the processed fish meat. The microstructural and mechanism study elucidate the process, thus could be applied to improve the quality of the seafood products correspondingly.

Isolation and characterisation of antioxidative peptides from bromelain-hydrolysed brown rice protein by proteomic technique

In this study, proteins from Thai brown rice (Khao Dawk Mali 105) were separated into albumin (2.18 %), globulin (3.98 %), glutelin (84.23 %), and prolamin (9.61 %) fractions, and were hydrolysed with various bromelain concentrations and hydrolysis times. Liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was conducted to assess the composition, molecular weight (MW) distribution, and sequence of the resulting peptides, and showed that most peptides have a MW below 2000 Da (60-70 %). Glutelin fraction hydrolysates exhibited the highest 2,2'-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic (ABTS•+) radical-scavenging (0.69 ± 0.04 µM trolox) and copper chelating (4.12 ± 0.01 mg ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; EDTA) activities, which was further fractionated into six fractions using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The fourth fraction showed the highest ABTS•+ scavenging (1.08 ± 0.03 mM trolox) and copper chelating (5.00 ± 0.02 mg EDTA) activity. LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that the peptides with MW less than 1500 Da and hydrophobic or aromatic N-terminal residues, such as SPFWNINAHS, MPVDVIANAYR, VVYFDQTQAQA, and VEVGGGARAP, possibly contributed to the highest antioxidant activity in fourth fraction.

Bromelain-loaded nanoparticles: A comprehensive review of the state of the art

Stem bromelain is a common available cysteine protease derived from pineapple (Ananas comosus L.). Bromelain finds widespread applications in several areas, such as medicine, health, food, and cosmetics, and its strong proteolytic activity supports its future application in many additional fields. However, most proteins and/or enzymes are fragile, leading to important considerations about increase storage and operational stability to enable their practical application. In this scenario, the use of nanoparticles to deliver proteins is increasing exponentially, given that these systems are capable of enhance active's stability, solubility and permeability, and decrease toxicity. In the pharmaceutical nanotechnology field, bromelain has played different roles and thus this paper aims to review the available literature for the use of nanoparticles and bromelain.

Antiacanthain A: New proteases isolated from Bromelia antiacantha Bertol. (Bromeliaceae)

Crude extract (CE) from pulp of Bromelia antiacantha Bertol. mature fruit, contains at least 3 cysteine proteases with proteolytic activity. By single step cation exchange chromatography (Hi-trap SP-HP) of partially purified CE, the protease with the lowest pI, Antiacanthain A (AntA), was isolated. It showed maximum activity at pH9, and 75% of remaining activity was maintained over a wide pH range (pH6-10). The AntA activity exhibits a constant increase up to 70°C. Maintains almost 100% of its activity at 45 at pH6 and 9. A 60% of AntA was active by titration with specific inhibitor, E64. Amidasic activity was studied with pyroglutamyl-phenyl-leucyl-paranitroaniline (PFLNA) substrate having higher AntA catalytic efficiency of (k_cat/K_m=470s^-1M^-1) relative to stem bromelain (k_cat/K_m=305s^-1M^-1). Esterase activity using p-nitrophenyl esters of N-α-CBZ-l-Lysine (z-L-LysONp) showed a 10-fold higher catalytic efficiency for AntA (k_cat/K_m=6376s^-1M^-1) relative to stem bromelain (k_cat/K_m=688s^-1M^-1). Incubation with 8M Urea did not affect AntA activity and remained unchanged for 18h, with 6M GndHCl resulted in a 41% decrease in activity after 30min incubation, maintained this activity 18h. AntA exhibits high sequence identity with proteases of the Bromeliaceae family.

Enzyme decorated drug carriers: Targeted swords to cleave and overcome the mucus barrier

The use of mucus permeating drug carrier systems being able to overcome the mucus barrier can lead to a remarkable enhancement in bioavailability. One promising approach is the design of mucolytic enzyme decorated carrier systems (MECS). These systems include micro- and nanoparticles as well as self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS) decorated with mucin cleaving enzymes such as papain (PAP) or bromelain (BRO). MECS are able to cross the mucus barrier in a comparatively efficient manner by cleaving mucus substructures in front of them on their way to the epithelium. Thereby these enzymes hydrolyze peptide bonds of mucus glycoproteins forming tiny holes or passages through the mucus. In various in vitro and in vivo studies MECS proved to be superior in their mucus permeating properties over nanocarriers without enzyme decoration. PAP decorated nanoparticles, for instance, remained 3h after oral administration to an even 2.5-fold higher extend in rat small intestine than the corresponding undecorated nanoparticles permeating the intestinal mucus gel layer to a much lower degree. As MECS break up the mucus network only locally without destroying its overall protective barrier function, even long term treatments with such systems seem feasible. Within this review article we address different drug carrier systems decorated with various types of enzymes, their particular pros and cons and potential applications.

Bromelain: from production to commercialisation

Bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes found in pineapple (Ananas comosus) plants. It can be found in several parts of the pineapple plant, including the stem, fruit, leaves and peel. High demand for bromelain has resulted in gradual increases in bromelain production. These increases have led to the need for a bromelain production strategy that yields more purified bromelain at a lower cost and with fewer production steps. Previously, bromelain was purified by conventional centrifugation, ultrafiltration and lyophilisation. Recently, the development of more modern purification techniques such as gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, aqueous two-phase extraction and reverse micelle chromatography has resulted in increased industrial bromelain production worldwide. In addition, recombinant DNA technology has emerged as an alternative strategy for producing large amounts of ultrapure bromelain. An up-to-date compilation of data regarding the commercialisation of bromelain in the clinical, pharmaceutical and industrial fields is provided in this review. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Performance of a Two-Stage Membrane System for Bromelain Separation from Pineapple Waste Mixture as Impacted by Enzymatic Pretreatment and Diafiltration

Membrane technology has been successfully applied for the purification of bromelain, a protease enzyme from pineapple. However, the current system operates less optimally in terms of flux and separation primarily due to properties of the feed, such as viscosity. Hence, in this study, enzymatic pretreatment and diafiltration operation were employed in a two-stage ultrafiltration (UF) system to enhance the performance of the purification and concentration process of bromelain enzyme from an extract of pineapple crude waste mixture (CWM). Pretreatment of the CWM extract using either pectinase or cellulase, or the combination of both, was applied and compared regarding the apparent viscosity reduction. Diafiltration step was introduced in UF stage 2 and observations on the flux performance, enzyme recovery and enzyme purity were made. A 12% apparent viscosity reduction was achieved when the CWM extract was pretreated with pectinase which led to 37-38% improvement in the flux performance of both UF stages, as well as higher enzyme recovery in UF stage 1. The introduction of diafiltration mode in UF stage 2 managed to sustain high flux values while yielding 4.4-fold enzyme purity (higher than a 2.5-fold purity achieved in our previous work); however, high diluent consumption was needed. The outcomes of this study showed that the flux performance and bromelain separation can be enhanced by reducing the viscosity with the employment of enzymatic pretreatment and diafiltration operation. Thus, both techniques can be potentially applied in a large-scale membrane-based process for bromelain production.

A GC-MS based metabolic profiling of fermented sausage supplemented with pineapple

A GC-MS based metabolomic study was performed to understand metabolic changes during sausage fermentation and to investigate how the incorporation of pineapple affects the metabolic profiles of fermented sausages. Principal component analysis models showed clear metabolic differences among the fermented sausages according to the fermentation periods and the pineapple addition. Increased amounts of amino acids and organic acids except for citric acid, along with decreased levels of sugars were observed after fermentation. Higher levels of sugars and citric acid in the pineapple supplemented sausages dramatically decreased during the early stage of fermentation. The contents of lactic acid, phosphoric acid, succinic acid, ribonic acid, valine, leucine, isoleucine, glycine, threonine, glutamic acid, glucose, and sucrose were significantly increased in the 2% pineapple addition sausages. GC-MS and PCA analytical methods provide a new approach to understand of the metabolic changes in fermented sausages during fermentation.

The biochemical characterization, stabilization studies and the antiproliferative effect of bromelain against B16F10 murine melanoma cells

The current study aims to extract bromelain from different parts (stem, crown, peels, pulp and leaves) of Ananas comosus var. comosus AGB 772; to determine of optimum pH and temperature; to test bromelain stability in disodium EDTA and sodium benzoate, and to investigate its pharmacological activity on B16F10 murine melanoma cells in vitro. The highest enzymatic activity was found in bromelain extracted from the pulp and peel. The optimum bromelain pH among all studied pineapple parts was 6.0. The optimum temperature was above 50 °C in all bromelain extracts. The fluorescence analysis confirmed the stability of bromelain in the presence of EDTA and sodium benzoate. Bromelain was pharmacologically active against B16F10 melanoma cells and it was possible verifying approximately 100% inhibition of tumor cell proliferation in vitro. Since bromelain activity was found in different parts of pineapple plants, pineapple residues from the food industry may be used for bromelain extraction.

A novel multi-biofunctional protein from brown rice hydrolysed by endo/endo-exoproteases

Brown rice, which is a less allergenic food grain and contains essential amino acids, was hydrolysed by bromelain and PROTEASE FP51® to improve its functionalities and taste for food applications. The hydrolysate prepared by bromelain (eb-RPH) had high protein solubility, surface hydrophobicity, low molecular weight peptides, hydrophobic amino acids (leucine, valine and glycine) and flavor amino acids (glutamic acid and aspartic acid). The eb-RPH exhibited higher 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH˙) and 2,2'-azino-bis 3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic (ABTS˙(+)) radical-scavenging activities of 76.62% and 52.96%, respectively, and possessed a better foaming capacity (221.76%) and emulsifying capacity (32.34%) than the hydrolysate prepared by PROTEASE FP51® (ep-RPH) did. The eb-RPH gave the desired taste, which is attributed to volatile flavor compounds (benzaldehyde, benzeneacetaldehyde and 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline) and non-volatile flavor compounds, such as monosodium glutamate, 5'-guanosine monophosphate and 5'-inosine monophosphate (0.07, 0.03 and 0.05 mg mL(-1), respectively). Brown rice peptides generated by bromelain were novel bioactive peptides with multifunctional properties.

Trimethylamine-N-oxide switches from stabilizing nature: A mechanistic outlook through experimental techniques and molecular dynamics simulation

In adaptation biology of the discovery of the intracellular osmolytes, the osmolytes are found to play a central role in cellular homeostasis and stress response. A number of models using these molecules are now poised to address a wide range of problems in biology. Here, a combination of biophysical measurements and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method is used to examine the effect of trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) on stem bromelain (BM) structure, stability and function. From the analysis of our results, we found that TMAO destabilizes BM hydrophobic pockets and active site as a result of concerted polar and non-polar interactions which is strongly evidenced by MD simulation carried out for 250 ns. This destabilization is enthalpically favourable at higher concentrations of TMAO while entropically unfavourable. However, to the best of our knowledge, the results constitute first detailed unambiguous proof of destabilizing effect of most commonly addressed TMAO on the interactions governing stability of BM and present plausible mechanism of protein unfolding by TMAO.

Effect of proteolytic enzyme bromelain on pain and swelling after removal of third molars

Aims and Objectives:

To evaluate the effect of bromelain on pain and swelling after surgical removal of third molars.

Materials and Methods:

A prospective randomized clinical study was conducted among 40 patients requiring surgical removal of impacted mandibular third molars. All the impacted molars were surgically removed, and the patients were administered bromelain along with amoxicillin. Patients were recalled on day 1, day 3, and day 7 for postoperative pain assessment using visual analogue scale (VAS) and postoperative swelling assessment using facial reference points tragus and pogonion. VAS score was statistically analyzed using repeated analysis of variance with post-hoc Bonferroni test postoperatively on day 1, day 3, and day 7 using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 14.

Results:

Out of the total 40 patients, bromelain was effective in 28 (70%) patients. In these patients, there was reduction in swelling and pain after taking bromelain.

Conclusion:

Bromelain can be used as a successful oral enzyme therapy for oral surgery patients, especially after removal of impacted third molars.

Reverse micellar extraction of bromelain from pineapple peel--Effect of surfactant structure

Pineapple peel is generally disposed or used as compost. This study was focused on extracting bromelain from pineapple peel by using reverse micelles. It was found that gemini surfactant C12-8-C12·2Br (octamethylene-α,ω-bis(dimethyldodecylammonium bromide)) showed distinctive advantage over its monomeric counterpart DTAB (dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide); under optimized condition, the bromelain extracted with C12-8-C12·2Br reverse micelle had an activity recovery of 163% and a purification fold of 3.3, while when using DTAB reverse micelle, the activity recovery was 95% and the purification fold was 1.7. Therefore, the spacer of gemini surfactant should play a positive role in bromelain extraction and may suggest the potential of gemini surfactant in protein separation since it has been so far rarely used in relative experiments or technologies.

Agave as a model CAM crop system for a warming and drying world

As climate change leads to drier and warmer conditions in semi-arid regions, growing resource-intensive C3 and C4 crops will become more challenging. Such crops will be subjected to increased frequency and intensity of drought and heat stress. However, agaves, even more than pineapple (Ananas comosus) and prickly pear (Opuntia ficus-indica and related species), typify highly productive plants that will respond favorably to global warming, both in natural and cultivated settings. With nearly 200 species spread throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Central America, agaves have evolved traits, including crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), that allow them to survive extreme heat and drought. Agaves have been used as sources of food, beverage, and fiber by societies for hundreds of years. The varied uses of Agave, combined with its unique adaptations to environmental stress, warrant its consideration as a model CAM crop. Besides the damaging cycles of surplus and shortage that have long beset the tequila industry, the relatively long maturation cycle of Agave, its monocarpic flowering habit, and unique morphology comprise the biggest barriers to its widespread use as a crop suitable for mechanized production. Despite these challenges, agaves exhibit potential as crops since they can be grown on marginal lands, but with more resource input than is widely assumed. If these constraints can be reconciled, Agave shows considerable promise as an alternative source for food, alternative sweeteners, and even bioenergy. And despite the many unknowns regarding agaves, they provide a means to resolve disparities in resource availability and needs between natural and human systems in semi-arid regions.