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Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-trans-6-nonenamide) is the active ingredient of chilli peppers and is responsible for the characteristic pungency. The ubiquitous human consumption of chilli peppers indicates their influence on human health. The effect of capsaicin through sensory neurons via TRPV1 activation has been well studied, but its non-neuronal effects are still not extensively explored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vivo antioxidant effect of capsaicin on erythrocytes of male Wistar rats. Markers of oxidative stress in blood were determined by assessing the plasma total antioxidant potential, activity of plasma membrane redox system, intracellular glutathione (GSH) level, ROS level, protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation. Results of this study suggest a significant protective effect of capsaicin against oxidative stress by enhancing FRAP, GSH level, PMRS activity and ameliorating ROS, MDA, PCO and AOPP.

Downstream is a very affluent process for fermentation. It usually involves complicated equipment and processes to obtain desired chemicals or materials from intra- and/or extracellular spaces of microorganisms. Recently, it becomes possible to simplify the microbial cell separation processes by morphologically engineering the shapes of small microorganisms. Biologically engineered entities have enabled discoveries in the past decade and a half, spanning from novel routes for the syntheses of drugs and value-added products to carbon capture. The precise cellular reprogramming has extended to the production of nanomaterials owing to their ever-growing demand. Additionally, nutraceuticals are important natural bioactive compounds that confer health-promoting and medical benefits to humans. Globally, growing demands for value-added nutraceuticals for prevention and treatment of human diseases have rendered nutraceuticals a multi-billion dollar market. However, supply limitations and extraction difficulties from natural sources such as plants, animals, or fungi restrict the large-scale use of nutraceuticals. Metabolic engineering via microbial production platforms has been advanced as an eco-friendly alternative approach for production of value-added nutraceuticals from simple carbon sources. Microbial platforms like the most widely used Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been engineered as versatile cell factories for production of diverse and complex value-added chemicals such as phytochemicals, prebiotics, polysaccharides, and poly amino acids. This chapter highlights the recent progresses in biological production of value-added nutraceuticals via metabolic engineering approaches.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the primary causes of dementia; it causes an age-related cognitive decline and is the most common progressive neurodegenerative disease in adults. AD is mainly the consequence of a cumulative effect of inflammation, environmental exposures, genetic, psychosocial, and biological factors, and the presence of chronic diseases including diabetes, cerebral, and cardiovascular diseases. Normal aging of the brain leads to depletion of fatty acids, which need to be regained or supplemented with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), reducing the risk factors for AD. DHA is broadly neuroprotective, contributing to the maintenance of brain lipid metabolism, signal transduction, and neurotransmission mechanism, while reducing arachidonic acid metabolites and oxidative stress. Several studies have demonstrated the decline of dementia or AD incidence with increased consumption of foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids.

A plant requires favorable conditions for their growth. When minerals, temperature, light, pH, and water are present in their optimum concentration, plant grows well, but any change in their level affects the growth of the plant. A situation that does not promote plant growth is called stress. For optimum growth of plants in stress conditions, the plant accumulates compatible solutes, an organic compound that is nontoxic and nonreactive and manages osmotic pressure in plants. Plants synthesize different types of compatible solutes in different kinds of biotic as well as abiotic stress. Compatible solutes also scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS), and in this way, it could protect plants from oxidative stress. In this chapter, we review different types of compatible solutes and their impact on stress conditions. We also summarize the role of compatible solutes in plant growth promotion.

Agriculture is not only a livelihood source but also fulfils the nutritional requirement of humans. To feed the world population increasing at an alarming rate, crop production must be increased. However, crop production is adversely affected by various abiotic factors or changes in climatic conditions worldwide. Climate exhibits a direct impact on the yield of the crop. In stress condition, the physiological state of plants gets altered that ultimately affects the overall growth of plants. Plants exhibit different mechanisms to survive these stress conditions. Plants synthesize and accumulated non-toxic, non-reactive organic compounds to counter the unfavourable conditions, and these compounds are known as compatible solutes. Compatible solutes exhibit beneficial characteristics by which plants could survive in hostile environments. Hereby, we discussed the role of few important compatible compounds and their role in plant growth as well as in different stress conditions. We have also summarized the effect of inducible changes in the compatible solutes on plant growth under different climatic conditions.

Leishmaniasis is caused by the intracellular parasite of the genus Leishmania. It now becomes a major public health problem in many countries all over the world. It is always better to prevent the disease than to treat it. The vaccine prevents disease in the people who receive them and protect those who come into contact with an unvaccinated individual. Because of the large genome and complex biology, developing a vaccine for this pathogen has proved to be a challenging task. Leishmania promastigotes are successfully cultivated incompletely defined medium and their excretory-secretory proteins/factors which may act as antigens are easily purified form culture supernatant of cultured Leishmania species. These leishmanial excretory-secretory antigens serve as a candidate for vaccine development in formulation with muramyl dipeptide (MDP) as an adjuvant. However, currently, there is not a single vaccine is available against any form of leishmaniasis for general human use. According to the estimate of the World Health Organization (WHO), 90% of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) occurs in just five countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, and Sudan). Those in need are amongst the poorest people in these countries to develop a vaccine. The main purpose of this review is to present only the use of Leishmania excretory-secretory antigens (LESAs) as a candidate for the formulation of a potent vaccine against the severe disease leishmaniasis

Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl

Hypericum perforatum L. also known as St John’s wort (SJW) is an effective dietary supplement for treating various nervous system related disorders. It overcome anxiety, mild to moderate depression, mood disorders and stress due to the presence of vast number of bioactive compounds. As such, hypericin and hyperforin are the major compounds along with other less abundant compounds such as flavonoids, biflavonoids, phloroglucinols, napthodianthrones, xanthones, proanthocyanidins, phenolic acid, etc. Beside its effect over nervous system, SJW also effective against cancer, oxidative stress, inflammation and microbial infections. It is one of the high selling natural supplements in USA and other western countries. However, interaction of SJW with other medicines such as warfarin, phenoprocumon, cyclosporine, oral contraceptives, theophylline, digoxin, indinavir and lamivudine have been reported and thus cautions must be taken while using these medicines along with SJW. This book chapter highlighted the phyto-pharmacological activity of SJW along with its distribution, market value and interactive effect with other medicines for better understanding of its use as nonvitamin nonmineral nutritional supplement.