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Bioactive peptides are naturally found in various foods and were shown to have various distinct physiological as well as medicinal benefits. In this study shrimp peptide hydrolysate (SPH) was prepared to investigate its immunomodulatory effect against cyclophosphamide (CTX) induced immunosuppressed mice. The SPH effect was also analyzed on murine macrophage (RAW264.7 cells). The findings show that SPH stimulates macrophages to form multiple pseudopodia, has no cytotoxic effect, and increases phagocytic activity in RAW264.7 cells. Furthermore, the immunosuppressed in‐vivo model illustrates the improvement in various aspects, that is body weight, escalation in immune organ index, and ameliorates histopathological transformation of thymus along with the spleen. SPH enhances cell‐mediated immunity by facilitating splenocyte proliferation and inhibit excessive apoptosis. Moreover, the significant outcome had been observed with the upregulation of cytokines interferon‐gamma (IFN‐ϒ), interleukin‐2 (IL‐2) level and simultaneously downregulate certain genes include interleukin‐4 (IL‐4) and interleukin‐10 (IL‐10). Additionally, SPH expedites cellular immunity by enhancing the regulation of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and immunoglobulin M (IgM). However, these findings support the hypothesis that SPH is an effective immunomodulatory agent capable of preventing immune system hypofunction. It is necessary to investigate the detailed mechanism to rule out any unforeseen effects of SPH in future research. Practical applications: Chemotherapy medications, despite their dominating detrimental effects of damaging immunological organs such as the spleen and thymus, extend the treatment process as well as the destruction of the self‐immune system. This study found that SPH is an effective immunomodulatory agent capable of avoiding immune organ hypofunction and improving cell mediate immunity by enhancing macrophage activation, phagocytosis, spleenocyte proliferation, suppressing apoptosis, and elevating cytokines and antibodies. As a result, SPH can be utilized as a nutritional and functional dietary supplement to boost immunological modulation in combination with chemotherapy medications in order to lessen their adverse effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immunomodulating effect of Phenolic acid bound arabinoxylans (PCA‐AXs) extracted from Little (PCA‐AX‐L) and Kodo (PCA‐AX‐K) millet seeds in RAW 264.7 cells were investigated. The PCA‐AXs were extracted from millets and their chemical characterization were carried out by GC‐MS, HPLC, and FT‐IR. The immunomodulatory effect of PCA‐AXs in RAW 264.7 cells were investigated by estimating ROS, NO, and cytokines TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, and evaluation of molecular mechanism by q‐PCR & western blotting techniques. The xylose: arabinose ratio of PCA‐AX‐L and PCA‐AX‐K were 1.48:1.0 and 2.26:1.0, respectively. The phenolic acids content was higher in PCA‐AX‐K than PCA‐AX‐L determined by HPLC. FT‐IR analysis confirms the presence of α‐glucosidic linkage with the degree of substitution of xylan backbone by arabinose residues. The evaluation of immunomodulating effect of PCA‐AXs revealed that the PCA‐AX‐L–treated cells showed higher release of NO, ROS and cytokines than PCA‐AX‐K–treated cells. The mRNA expressions of TNF‐α, iNOS and COX‐2 were upregulated by PCA‐AX‐L and downregulated by PCA‐AX‐K in dose‐dependent manner. Furthermore, in western blotting, the ERK and NF‐κB were found to be activated by PCA‐AX‐L and inhibited by PCA‐AX‐K. Our findings suggest that the high branched arabinoxylans of PCA‐AX‐L could modulate the immune response in RAW 264.7 cells through activation of ERK and NF‐κB signaling pathways and acts as an immunostimulant. The higher phenolic content in PCA‐AX‐K could modulate the immune response by downregulation of ERK and NF‐κB signaling pathways and thus, it could act as an immunomodulator. Practical applications: Millets are the richest source of arabinoxylans in which they are known to be bound with phenolic acids (PCA‐AX). Arabinoxylans derived from rice and wheat is known immunomodulators. This study was focused to evaluate the immunomodulatory property of PCA‐AX derived from two different millets little and kodo. The study results clearly indicated the immune stimulatory action of PCA‐AX‐L and immunomodulatory action of PCA‐AX‐K. The explored mechanism indicated that the PCA‐AXs modulate NF‐κB & ERK pathways for their immunomodulatory action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lilium lancifolium is native to Northeast Asia and its bulbs have been used for medicinal treatment. Moreover, Japan has been using L. lancifolium bulbs more actively as food ingredients than Korea. Therefore, this study was to investigate the characteristics of Korean L. lancifolium bulbs, with respect to food component and functionality. As a result of proximate composition analysis, L. lancifolium bulbs have an abundant carbohydrate content. HPLC analysis indicated p‐coumaric acid and ferulic acid contents of Korean L. lancifolium extract were 1.14 ± 0.01, 1.46 ± 0.00 mg/g, but only p‐coumaric acid was less detected in Japanese extract. Also, Korean L. lancifolium bulbs extract exhibited significant antioxidant effects, as evaluated with antioxidant activity and compound, than Japanese extract. Furthermore, Korean L. lancifolium bulbs extract significantly inhibited pro‐inflammatory protein expressions through MyD88 dependent pathway. Therefore, these results suggested Korean L. lancifolium bulbs have the potential to being functional food ingredients. Practical applications: Lilium lancifolium is a perennial plant belonging to the Liliaceae family. The storage organ of L. lancifolium is surrounded by several fleshy nodes at the base of the stem, called the bulb, which has been used as food or medicine to treat pneumonia and bronchitis. L. lancifolium is widely found in countries of Northeast Asia, such as Korea, Japan, and China, and its bulbs have been studied for presence of bioactive compounds that have important functional activities. The bioactive compounds in the L. lancifolium bulbs may vary from region to region. In this study, the difference observed in the contents of different bioactive compounds and the efficacy of anti‐inflammatory effects of L. lancifolium bulbs from different regions were consistent in this regard. As a comparative study of food materials by region, these L. lancifolium bulbs have the potential to be used as a food material for preventing inflammatory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical characterization and evaluation of immunostimulating effect of phenolic acid bound arabinoxylan (PA‐AXs) isolated from barnyard (PA‐AX‐B) and foxtail (PA‐AX‐F) millets were performed. The sugar composition analysis and bound phenolic acids' (caffeic acid, p‐coumaric acid, and ferulic acid) content of PA‐AXs were examined by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC‐MS) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. The immunostimulatory activity of PA‐AXs was evaluated by studying the effect of PA‐AXs on the release of nitric oxide (NO), ROS, and cytokine (TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and IL‐6) in RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells. The GC‐MS results revealed the xylose: arabinose ratio of PA‐AX‐F and PA‐AX‐B as 1.96:1.0 and 1.64:1.0, respectively. In HPLC analysis, PA‐AX‐B showed higher phenolic acid content than PA‐AX‐F. In RAW 264.7 cells, immunostimulatory activity was established by its increased release of NO, ROS, and cytokine (TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and IL‐6) in a dose‐dependent manner. Both PA‐AX‐B and PA‐AX‐F exhibited significant immunostimulation in in vitro studies. Practical applications: Millets are known for the higher content of phenolic acid bound arabinoxylans (PA‐AX). The composition of PA‐AX varies with different types of millets. In general, rice bran and wheat arabinoxylans are well reported to have significant immunostimulatory and antitumor properties. The bound ferulic acid with arabinoxylan isolated from finger millet bran also possesses immunostimulatory property. As the millets grains, foxtail and barnyard are also rich in PA‐AXs, the present study was focused to evaluate the immunostimulatory property of PA‐AX derived from two different millets. The study results indicated the immune stimulatory action of millet PA‐AX's and thus the purified PA‐AX can be explored further to identify the mechanism of action with respect to its immune stimulation property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemical constituents in Trifolium repens L. were comprehensively studied by UPLC in this work, and a total number of 308 compounds were detected with 169 ones identified. The possible fragmentation pathways were proposed and fragmentation rules were summarized. On the basis of the concluded strategies, the characterized compounds could be classified into organic acids and their derivatives, alkaloids, amino acids, peptides, flavonoids, oligosaccharides, coumarins, and other types of compounds. This approach provided a rapid way for the identification of constituents in T. repens L., and even in other complex analytes. Among the separation and identification of the constituents, three compounds of great amount were isolated and characterized by NMR. The expression of iNOS and COX‐2 in LPS‐induced RAW 264.7 cells was suppressed by the pretreatment with three isolated constituents. The results implied they may potentially serve as a remedy for the therapy of inflammation. Practical applications: This work provided a rapid method for the identification of the complex analyte, which could be used in TCM, natural food and so on. The summarized fragmentation rule could be applied for the analysis of several types of compounds, such as organic acids and their derivatives, alkaloids, amino acids and peptides, flavonoids, oligosaccharides, coumarins, and so on. Most of natural plants contain these kinds of compounds, so these rules could have wide applications. Except the phytochemical investigation, T. repens L. displayed anti‐inflammation activity according to the reported literature, and the three isolated constituents may potentially serve as a remedy for the therapy of inflammation referring to the result of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nine varieties of Algerian date palm fruits (Phoenix dactylifera L.) including Lahmira, Timjouhert, Adham Talmine, Deglet Talmine, Adam Boullah, Tinasser, Deglet, Deglet Nour, and Takerbouch were distinguished via Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H‐NMR) metabolomics approach. The quality was evaluated based on the metabolite composition, proximate analysis, physicochemical characteristics, and biological activities which include nitric oxide (NO) inhibition via the cell‐based approach and NO scavenging abilities. A total of 49 metabolites were tentatively characterized including amino acids, organic acids, and phenolic compounds. The Principal Component Analysis and Hierarchical Clustering Analysis revealed a consistent grouping of Deglet, Takerbouch, and Deglet Noor from the rest of six varieties. Among the metabolites that contributed toward the observed segregation were serine, glycine, glucose, fructose, and sucrose. With regard to metabolite composition, NO scavenging activities, total soluble solids, and proximate analysis, Deglet dates displayed a better quality as compared to the other Algerian dates. Practical applications: The present study has the significance in assessing the variation among different varieties of Algerian dates via the 1H‐NMR metabolomics approach. The information gained might be beneficial for consumers and suppliers regarding the quality of the selected varieties of date palm fruits. Generally, the obtained data intend to contribute to the knowledge on the quality differences among varieties of dates. Thus, the selection of premium date variety with good nutritional and pharmacological values can be chosen in the development of functional food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]