Bioavailability and Biological Effects of 2- O-β-d-Glucopyranosyl-carboxyatractyligenin from Green Coffee in Caenorhabditis elegans

The role of Caenorhabditis elegans in the discovery of natural products for healthy aging

Covering: 2012 to 2023The human population is aging. Thus, the greatest risk factor for numerous diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders, is increasing worldwide. Age-related diseases do not typically occur in isolation, but as a result of multi-factorial causes, which in turn require holistic approaches to identify and decipher the mode of action of potential remedies. With the advent of C. elegans as the primary model organism for aging, researchers now have a powerful in vivo tool for identifying and studying agents that effect lifespan and health span. Natural products have been focal research subjects in this respect. This review article covers key developments of the last decade (2012-2023) that have led to the discovery of natural products with healthy aging properties in C. elegans. We (i) discuss the state of knowledge on the effects of natural products on worm aging including methods, assays and involved pathways; (ii) analyze the literature on natural compounds in terms of their molecular properties and the translatability of effects on mammals; (iii) examine the literature on multi-component mixtures with special attention to the studied organisms, extraction methods and efforts regarding the characterization of their chemical composition and their bioactive components. (iv) We further propose to combine small in vivo model organisms such as C. elegans and sophisticated analytical approaches ("wormomics") to guide the way to dissect complex natural products with anti-aging properties.

Structures and Biological Activities of Polyacylated ent-Kaurane Diterpenoid Glycosides from the Aerial Parts of Inula hupehensis

Sixteen new (1-16) and three known (17-19) polyacylated ent-kaurane diterpenoid glycosides were isolated from the aerial parts of Inula hupehensis. The planar structures of 1-16 and their relative configurations were established on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. The absolute configurations of all stereogenic centers for compounds 1 and 6 were determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments, and the absolute configurations of the other new compounds were assigned by chemical degradation and experimental ECD data. Antineuroinflammatory testing of all the isolates showed that compound 5 inhibited lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in BV-2 microglial cells with an IC₅₀ value of 15.6 μM. In an α-glucosidase inhibitory assay, compound 13 exhibited a strong inhibitory effect with an IC₅₀ value of 32.8 μM, whereas the IC₅₀ value of the positive control, acarbose, was 387.8 μM.

Identification of Phytochemical Compounds in Coffea arabica Whole Coffee Cherries and Their Extracts by LC-MS/MS

The current work assessed the phytochemical contents of Arabica whole coffee cherry (WCC) and its two commercially available extracts: a minimum 40% chlorogenic acid (CGA; WCCE-1) and 70% caffeine (WCCE-2). Mass spectrometry analyses tentatively identified 219 phytochemicals in the three coffee samples, which is, so far, the largest number of identifications in a single study. A new group of CGA derivative namely caffeoylvaleroylquinic acid (CVQA) was identified in the three samples. Moreover, three 5-hydroxytryptamide derivatives (C₂₀-5HT, C₂₂-5HT, and C₂₄-5HT) were identified in WCC but not in the extracts. Two groups of atractyligenin derivatives (carboxyatractyligenin and noncarboxyatractyligenin) were identified in the three samples. Furthermore, our results show that both extracts retained a large number of phenolic and other potentially bioactive compounds that were naturally present in whole coffee cherry (WCC).

Alternative model organisms for toxicological fingerprinting of relevant parameters in food and nutrition

In the field of (food) toxicology, there is a strong trend of replacing animal trials with alternative methods for the assessment of adverse health effects in humans. The replacement of animal trials is not only driven by ethical concerns but also by the number of potential testing substances (food additives, packaging material, contaminants, and toxicants), which is steadily increasing. In vitro 2D cell culture applications in combination with in silico modeling might provide an applicable first response. However, those systems lack accurate predictions of metabolic actions. Thus, alternative in vivo models could fill the gap between cell culture and animal trials. In this review, we highlight relevant studies in the field and spotlight the applicability of alternative models, including C. elegans, D. rerio, Drosophila, HET-CAM and Lab-on-a-chip.