Ant schnapps for health and pleasure: the use of Formica rufa L. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) to flavour aquavit

Characterization, Antioxidant Activities, and Pancreatic Lipase Inhibitory Effect of Extract From the Edible Insect Polyrhachis vicina

Oxidative stress and obesity are critical risk factors for metabolic syndrome. The consumption of functional food ingredients can a viable strategy to alleviate oxidative stress and obesity. In this study, the hydro-ethanolic extract of the edible insect Polyrhachis vicina was prepared and its bioactive components were characterized. The total polyphenol contents, total flavonoid contents, antioxidant and pancreatic lipase (PL) inhibitory activities of the extract were determined in vitro. In total, 60 bioactive components were tentatively identified in the P. vicina extract. Polyphenols and fatty acids were further quantified using LC-MS and GC-MS, respectively. P. vicina extract possessed excellent antioxidant and PL inhibition activities. Salicylic acid, gallic acid, liquiritigenin, and naringenin, which were the major polyphenols in the P. vicina extract, interacted with PL through hydrogen bonding, hydrophilic or hydrophobic and pi-cation interactions. Thus, P. vicina extract can be used as a nutraceutical to alleviate oxidative stress-induced disease and manage obesity.

Traditional Knowledge to Contemporary Medication in the Treatment of Infectious Disease Dengue: A Review

Dengue has become a worldwide affliction despite incessant efforts to search for a cure for this long-lived disease. Optimistic consequences for dengue vaccine are implausible as the efficiency is tied to previous dengue virus (DENV) exposure and a very high cost is required for large-scale production of vaccine. Medicinal plants are idyllic substitutes to fight DENV infection since they constitute important components of traditional medicine and show antiviral properties, although the mechanism behind the action of bioactive compounds to obstruct viral replication is less explored and yet to be discovered. This review includes the existing traditional knowledge on how DENV infects and multiplies in the host cells, conscripting different medicinal plants that obtained bioactive compounds with anti-dengue properties, and the probable mechanism on how bioactive compounds modulate the host immune system during DENV infection. Moreover, different plant species having such bioactive compounds reported for anti-DENV efficiency should be validated scientifically via different in vitro and in vivo studies.