Increased Osteoblastic and Osteocytic in Vitro Cell Viability by Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis)

BACKGROUND

Yerba mate (YM, Ilex paraguariensis) consumption beneficially affects the bones. However, whether YM components exert their effect on bone cells directly remains elusive.

METHODS

We evaluated how main YM components affect osteoblastic (MC3T3-E1) and osteocytic (MLO-Y4) cells in vitro when administered separately or in an aqueous extract. MC3T3-E1 and MLO-Y4 cells were exposed to three different experimental conditions: (1) Caffeine, chlorogenic acid, and their combinations; (2) Caffeine, rutin, and their combinations; (3) Aqueous YM extract.

RESULTS

All polyphenol and caffeine concentrations as well as that of their tested combinations significantly increased MC3T3-E1 cell viability from 16.6% to 34.8% compared to the control. In MLO-Y4 cells, the lowest rutin and the two highest caffeine concentrations significantly increased cell viability by 11.9, 14.9, and 13.7%, respectively. While rutin and caffeine combinations tended to increase MLO-Y4 cell viability, different chlorogenic acid and caffeine combinations did not affect it. Finally, the aqueous YM extract significantly increased MLO-Y4, MC3T3-E1, and differentiated MC3T3-E1 cell viability compared to the control without treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

YM components (rutin, chlorogenic acid, and caffeine) positively affected bone cells, mainly pre-osteoblast cells. Moreover, the aqueous YM extract significantly increased MLO-Y4, MC3T3-E1, and differentiated MC3T3-E1 cell viabilities indicating an additional relevant nutritional property of YM infusion. Further studies would be required to elucidate the underlying effector mechanism of YM on the bones and its relationship with previously described in vivo positive effects.

The anticancer potential of the dietary polyphenol rutin: Current status, challenges, and perspectives

Rutin is one of the most common dietary polyphenols found in vegetables, fruits, and other plants. It is metabolized by the mammalian gut microbiota and absorbed from the intestines, and becomes bioavailable in the form of conjugated metabolites. Rutin exhibits a plethora of bioactive properties, making it an extremely promising phytochemical. Numerous studies demonstrate that rutin can act as a chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive agent, and its anticancer effects can be mediated through the suppression of cell proliferation, the induction of apoptosis or autophagy, and the hindering of angiogenesis and metastasis. Rutin has been found to modulate multiple molecular targets involved in carcinogenesis, such as cell cycle mediators, cellular kinases, inflammatory cytokines, transcription factors, drug transporters, and reactive oxygen species. This review summarizes the natural sources of rutin, its bioavailability, and in particular its potential use as an anticancer agent, with highlighting its anticancer mechanisms as well as molecular targets. Additionally, this review updates the anticancer potential of its analogs, nanoformulations, and metabolites, and discusses relevant safety issues. Overall, rutin is a promising natural dietary compound with promising anticancer potential and can be widely used in functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceuticals for the prevention and management of cancer.

Effect of the Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) brewing method on the content of selected elements and antioxidant potential of infusions

Yerba mate is a source of biologically active substances. The aim was to determine whether the place of origin of Yerba and the brewing method have any influence on the levels of Ca, Mg and Fe and antioxidant activity of infusions. Samples were steeped in cold water (25°C) and hot water (three consecutive infusions with 85°C water). Infusions had a high antioxidant activity and high Mg level. The levels of elements and the antioxidant activity were influenced by the brewing method. There were no significant differences in the examined parameters depending on the country of origin. The results on the levels of elements and the antioxidant activity indicate that the most efficient brewing method was infusion in hot water. The highest levels of elements were found in first infusions, with the highest antioxidant activity in the third infusions.

Bioassay for Determining the Concentrations of Caffeine and Individual Methylxanthines in Complex Samples

Caffeine and other methylxanthines are stimulant molecules found in formulated beverages, including sodas and energy drinks, and in brewed beverages, such as coffee and teas. Previously, we developed a bioassay for caffeine that involves monitoring the growth of a ΔguaB mutant of Escherichia coli defective in de novo guanine biosynthesis. When supplemented with a plasmid expressing the genes for an N-demethylation pathway from Pseudomonas putida CBB5, these bacteria demethylate caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) and other methylxanthines into xanthine, which is then converted into guanine to support cell growth. A major limitation of this bioassay was that it could only measure the total concentration of all methylxanthines in a mixture. Therefore, it could not be used to measure the caffeine content of beverages like teas, which contain substantial quantities of multiple methylxanthines. To overcome this limitation, we created seven new plasmids containing all subsets of the three demethylase genes (ndmA, ndmB, and ndmC). We show that strains of ΔguaB E. coli containing each plasmid are able to demethylate specific subsets of methylxanthines and that they can be used to determine the concentrations of individual methylxanthines in complex mixtures containing multiple methylxanthines, including coffee doped with an additional methylxanthine. While validating this assay, we also discovered an unexpected demethylation event at the 1-methyl position when NdmB and NdmC were expressed in the absence of NdmA. The improved cell-based bioassay is inexpensive, is easy to use, and gives results comparable to standard high-performance liquid chromatography methods for measuring methylxanthine concentrations.IMPORTANCE Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is the dominant neurostimulant found in coffee, teas, sodas, and energy drinks. Measuring the amount of caffeine and other methylxanthines in these beverages is important for quality assurance and safety in food science. Methylxanthines are also used in medicine and as performance-enhancing drugs, two contexts in which accurately determining their concentrations in bodily fluids is important. Liquid chromatography is the standard method for measuring methylxanthine concentrations in a sample, but it requires specialized equipment and expertise. We improved a previous bioassay that links E. coli growth to methylxanthine demethylation so that it can now be used to determine the amounts of individual methylxanthines in complex mixtures or beverages, such as coffee.

Effect of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.) addition on the functional and technological characteristics of fresh cheese

Milk components have the ability to interact with functional compounds, such as polyphenols. This may result in altered biological activity of the compounds, and changes in the technological properties of dairy products. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the addition of yerba mate (YM) on the physico-chemical and sensory properties of fresh cheese (FC) during storage (21 days). Different concentrations of YM were used for FC production: 0.0% (control), 0.5% (FC5), 1.0% (FC10) and 2.0% (FC20); and the bioactive compound concentration, antioxidant activity, color, texture, structure and sensory acceptance were evaluated. YM conferred antioxidant activity to FC; and affected the color, texture and structure. Storage time influenced all evaluated parameters except for color. FCs with 0.5 and 1.0% YM were scored as having higher sensory acceptability than FC with 2.0% YM. However, all supplemented FCs were well accepted by consumers (scores above 6). The YM could represent a source of bioactive compounds to improve the biological activity of dairy products.

Effect of the Extraction Process on the Biological Activity of Lyophilized Apricot Extracts Recovered from Apricot Pomace

The preservation of polyphenols in fruits by lyophilization has gained great interest in the recent decades. The present study aims to assess the impact of the pre-treatment extraction methods heat-assisted extraction (HAE) and infrared (IR) on lyophilized apricot pomace extracts. Then to test the conservation of polyphenols quantities as well as their bioactivities (antiradical and antibacterial) in lyophilized extract. An aqueous extract was obtained through either heat-assisted extraction or infrared pre-treatments then lyophilized to obtain a dried form. Results showed that the content of polyphenols, the antiradical and antibacterial activities in lyophilized extracts exhibited a slighter decrease in infrared sample compared to the heat-assisted extraction ones. The High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that lyophilized extracts IR and HAE preserved the same phenolic molecules (rutin, catechin and epicatechin) detected in liquid extracts (IR and HAE) with a smaller yield. Lyophilization can be used as a widely process in the food industry to conserve many bioactive molecules.

Exploring the genes of yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.) by NGS and de novo transcriptome assembly

Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St.-Hil.) is an important subtropical tree crop cultivated on 326,000 ha in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, with a total yield production of more than 1,000,000 t. Yerba mate presents a strong limitation regarding sequence information. The NCBI GenBank lacks an EST database of yerba mate and depicts only 80 DNA sequences, mostly uncharacterized. In this scenario, in order to elucidate the yerba mate gene landscape by means of NGS, we explored and discovered a vast collection of I. paraguariensis transcripts. Total RNA from I. paraguariensis was sequenced by Illumina HiSeq-2000 obtaining 72,031,388 pair-end 100 bp sequences. High quality reads were de novo assembled into 44,907 transcripts encompassing 40 million bases with an estimated coverage of 180X. Multiple sequence analysis allowed us to predict that yerba mate contains ∼ 32,355 genes and 12,551 gene variants or isoforms. We identified and categorized members of more than 100 metabolic pathways. Overall, we have identified ∼ 1,000 putative transcription factors, genes involved in heat and oxidative stress, pathogen response, as well as disease resistance and hormone response. We have also identified, based in sequence homology searches, novel transcripts related to osmotic, drought, salinity and cold stress, senescence and early flowering. We have also pinpointed several members of the gene silencing pathway, and characterized the silencing effector Argonaute1. We predicted a diverse supply of putative microRNA precursors involved in developmental processes. We present here the first draft of the transcribed genomes of the yerba mate chloroplast and mitochondrion. The putative sequence and predicted structure of the caffeine synthase of yerba mate is presented. Moreover, we provide a collection of over 10,800 SSR accessible to the scientific community interested in yerba mate genetic improvement. This contribution broadly expands the limited knowledge of yerba mate genes, and is presented as the first genomic resource of this important crop.