Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity and Biotransformation of Opuntia Ficus Fruit: The Effect of In Vitro and Ex Vivo Gut Microbiota Metabolism

Rheological properties, biochemical changes, and potential health benefits of dehulled and defatted industrial hempseeds after fermentation

Dehulled hempseed (DHS), fermented dehulled hempseed (FDHS), hempseed cake (HSC), and fermented HSC (FHSC) were examined for their phytochemical composition, health benefits, and rheological characteristics. At 500 µg/mL concentration, DHS, FDHS, HSC, and FHSC extracts exhibited the ability to inhibit DPPH radicals, with 32.46 %, 47.35 %, 33.85 %, and 47.41 %, respectively. Similarly, they demonstrated potential to scavenge ABTS radicals by 13.7 %, 27.87 %, 14.40 % and 25.70 %, respectively. For lipase inhibition activity, FDHS (72.92 %) and FDHS (85.89 %) outperformed DHS (52.94 %) and HSC (43.08 %). Furthermore, FHSC enhanced the survival and reduced fat accumulation in glucose-supplemented Caenorhabditis elegans. We used HPLC and UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS for metabolite analysis, quantifying eight polyphenols using HPLC and identifying thirty-four metabolites with UHPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS. Generally, metabolomics indicated an improved metabolite profile after fermentation. Fermentation also showed impact on rheological characteristics, modifying viscosity, loss modulus, and storage modulus. These findings collectively demonstrate the ability of fermentation in enhancing overall value of hempseed.

Profiling of primary and phytonutrients in edible mahlab cherry (Prunus mahaleb L.) seeds in the context of its different cultivars and roasting as analyzed using molecular networking and chemometric tools

Prunus mahaleb L. (mahlab cherry) is a deciduous plant that is native to the Mediterranean region and central Europe with a myriad of medicinal, culinary and cosmetic uses. The present study explored different cultivars of mahlab (white from Egypt and Greece, red from Egypt and post roasting). UPLC-MS led to the detection of 110 primary and secondary metabolites belonging to different classes including phenylpropanoids (hydroxy cinnamates, coumaroyl derivatives), organic acids, coumarins, cyanogenic glycosides, flavonoids, nitrogenous compounds, amino acids and fatty acids, of which 39 are first time to be detected in Prunus mahaleb L. A holistic assessment of metabolites was performed for further analysis of dataset using principal component analysis (PCA) among mahlab cultivars to assess variance within seeds. The results revealed that phenolic acids (coumaric acid-O-hexoside, ferulic acid-O-hexoside, ferulic acid-O-hexoside dimer, dihydrocoumaroyl-O-hexoside dimer and ferulic acid), coumarins (coumarin and herniarin) and amino acids (pyroglutamic acid) were abundant in white mahlab cultivars (cvs.) from different locations. In contrast, red mahlab and its roasted seeds were more rich in organic acids (citric and malic acids), amygdalin derivative and sphingolipids. Orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) revealed for markers in red mahlab and in response to roasting, where red mahlab was rich in nitrogenous compounds viz. nonamide, deoxy fructosyl leucine, glutaryl carnitine and isoleucine, while roasted product (REM) was found to be enriched in choline.

Outstanding Antibacterial Activity of Hypericum rochelii-Comparison of the Antimicrobial Effects of Extracts and Fractions from Four Hypericum Species Growing in Bulgaria with a Focus on Prenylated Phloroglucinols

Microbial infections are by no means a health problem from a past era due to the increasing antimicrobial resistance of infectious strains. Medicine is in constant need of new drugs and, recently, plant products have had a deserved renaissance and garnered scientific recognition. The aim of this work was to assess the antimicrobial activity of ten active ingredients from four Hypericum species growing in Bulgaria, as well as to obtain preliminary data on the phytochemical composition of the most promising samples. Extracts and fractions from H. rochelii Griseb. ex Schenk, H. hirsutum L., H. barbatum Jacq. and H. rumeliacum Boiss. obtained with conventional or supercritical CO₂ extraction were tested on a panel of pathogenic microorganisms using broth microdilution, agar plates, dehydrogenase activity and biofilm assays. The panel of samples showed from weak to extraordinary antibacterial effects. Three of them (from H. rochelii and H. hirsutum) had minimum inhibitory concentrations as low as 0.625-78 mg/L and minimum bactericidal concentrations of 19.5-625 mg/L against Staphylococcus aureus and other Gram-positive bacteria. These values placed these samples among the best antibacterial extracts from the Hypericum genus. Some of the agents also demonstrated very high antibiofilm activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus. Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed the three most potent samples as rich sources of biologically active phloroglucinols. They were shown to be good drug or nutraceutical candidates, presumably without some of the side effects of conventional antibiotics.