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Functional properties of food protein can be modified by appropriate modification technology, which enable food proteins to have a abroad range of application in the food industry. In the present study, arachin and conarachin fractions of peanut protein were treated by microfluidization treatment (MT, 120 MPa) and/or transglutaminase (TGase) cross-linking (TC). We investigated the effects of these different treatments on the conformations and functional properties of arachin and conarachin. The results showed that both MT and TC could effectively unfold the structures of proteins along with increasing the exposed free SH contents and surface hydrophobicity (H 0), and improve the emulsion stability. Interestingly, microfluidization was more effective in improving the functional properties (e.g., solubility or emulsifying properties) of arachin and conarachin than TGase cross-linking. Moreover, it was found that microfluidization pretreatment could facilitate TGase-induced cross-linking of arachin/conarachin. Compared with individual treatments, combined treatments could yield more unfolded protein structures of arachin/conarachin. In addition, the combined treatments could remarkably improve the emulsion stability for arachin and conarachin in comparison with individual MT, and also significantly enhanced the protein solubility and emulsifying activity compared with TC. • Peanut globulins were treated by microfluidization (MT) and transglutaminase (TC). • MT but not TC was more effective for improving the protein functional properties. • Microfluidization pretreatment could facilitate TGase-induced cross-linked globulins. • Combined treatments could yield more unfolded protein structures of globulins. • Combined treatments increased emulsifying activity than single treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impairment of cognitive function was considered as a major clinic feature in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Thus, a number of researches related to AD were focused on the changes in brain. However, as a neurodegenerative disorder with systemic inflammation, the periphery organs may also play a key role in AD pathology. Here, we pose the hypothesis that histopathology and inflammatory response of periphery organs may alter with aging in APP/PS1 mouse model. Therefore, we performed immunohistochemical staining technology to double label Aβ plaques and microglia cells in brain. The H&E staining was performed in periphery tissues and the mRNA expression of inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α were also determined. Next, the index of oxidative stress was measured. Consequently, the level of inflammatory factors was significantly increased in 24 months APP/PS1 mice. Furthermore, the enzyme activity of SOD, CAT and GSH were significantly decreased in colon and other organs. Our results demonstrated the increased inflammation response and declined antioxidative capacity of periphery organs in aged APP/PS1 mice, which suggesting that a more comprehensive perspective to study AD were necessary. • Despite accumulation of Aβ peptides, the periphery organs may also play a key role in AD pathology. • The number of Aβ plaques increased with aging and microglia cells were activated around the Aβ plaques. • Inflammation response increased and antioxidative capacity declined in periphery organs of aged APP/PS1 mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) characterization of walnut-derived peptide PW5. • PW5 exhibited significant antioxidant activity using ABTS assay in vitro. • The oxidized products after PW5 reacted with ABTS were explored by NMR. • Trp residue was the most critical determining factor for PW5 antioxidant activity. • NMR method may be a useful way to explore antioxidant mechanisms of peptides. The antioxidative activity of natural products has commonly been studied by free radical scavenging methods. However, the mechanisms by which antioxidation is explored by free radical scavenging methods remain largely unknown. This study analyzed the composition of walnut-derived pentapeptides PW5 with potential biological activity and its oxidation reaction products in 2,2′-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) test by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The amino acid sequence of PW5 peptide successfully characterized as Proline-Proline-Lysine-Asparagine-Tryptophan exhibited significant antioxidant activity with lower IC 50 value (0.2210 ± 0.0032 mM) compared to glutathione (GSH, 0.2567 ± 0.0023 mM, p < 0.001). Furthermore, we found that the tryptophan residue was the only residue in PW5 with obvious alteration after treatment with ABTS free radicals, which was linked to its potential antioxidant properties. These findings revealed how NMR-characterized structures and oxidation reaction products may be used to explore the antioxidative mechanisms of food-derived peptides as well as other natural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scope: Grifola frondosa has been shown to induce immune modulatory, modulate autophagy, and apoptosis in cancer cells. However, little is known about its potential for managing tumor progression as an adjunct to nutrient restriction., Methods and Results: Water extract produces a G. frondosa polysaccharide-protein complex (G. frondosa PPC) of average molecular weight of 46.48 kDa, with glucose (54.8%) as the main constituent. Under serum-restricted conditions, G. frondosa PPC can significantly inhibit MC38 colorectal tumor cell migration in vitro. Under alternate-day fasting condition, G. frondosa PPC can only significantly inhibit the growth of subcutaneous (s.c.) tumor, but is feeble in halting its spread in the intraperitoneal (i.p.) cavity in tumor-bearing mice. Histopathological examination and Raman imaging show a significant increase in lipid content in the tumor microenvironment (TME) tissue of the s.c. tumor-bearing mice. G. frondosa PPC significantly increases C17:0 and C24:0 saturated fatty acids and significantly decreases C16:1 and C18:1 monounsaturated fatty acids in the TME of s.c. tumor-bearing mice compared with the i.p. cavity model., Conclusion: G. frondosa PPC significantly inhibits tumor growth in s.c. tumor-bearing mice under intermittent fasting conditions by altering the fatty acid composition of the TME., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

In spite of recent advances in the field of undernutrition, current dietary therapy relying on the supply of high protein high calorie formulas is still plagued with transient recovery of impaired organs resulting in significant relapse of cases. This is partly attributed to the inadequacy of current research models in recapitulating clinical undernutrition for mechanistic exploration. Using 1636 Macaca fascicularis monkeys, a human-relevant criterion for determining undernutrition weight-for-age z-score (WAZ), with a cutoff point of ≤ -1.83 is established as the benchmark for identifying undernourished nonhuman primates (U-NHPs). In U-NHPs, pathological anomalies in multi-organs are revealed. In particular, severe dysregulation of hepatic lipid metabolism characterized by impaired fatty acid oxidation due to mitochondria dysfunction, but unlikely peroxisome disorder, is identified as the anchor metabolic aberration in U-NHPs. Mitochondria dysfunction is typified by reduced mito-number, accumulated long-chain fatty acids, and disruption of OXPHOS complexes. Soy peptide-treated U-NHPs increase in WAZ scores, in addition to attenuated mitochondria dysfunction and restored OXPHOS complex levels. Herein, innovative criteria for identifying U-NHPs are developed, and unknown molecular mechanisms of undernutrition are revealed hitherto, and it is further proved that soypeptide supplementation reprogramed mitochondrial function to re-establish lipid metabolism balance and mitigated undernutrition., (© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Science published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

Body weight, body mass index (BMI), Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002), and prognostic nutritional index (PNI) are among vital nutrition status indices employed during cancer treatment. These have also been associated with levels of blood chemistry panels (BCPs), which are touted as significant indicators of disease prognosis. However, it remains unclear which nutrition status index better predicts future trends in specific BCPs. Using the records of 407 cancer patients, we retrospectively examined the potential of nutritional status indices at baseline for predicting changes in specific BCPs over a 6-week period. Generally, both serum biochemical parameters and nutrition status indices fluctuated over the study period among study participants. PNI was often linearly associated with blood cell counts (white blood cells [WBCs] and hemoglobin) compared with anthropometric-based nutrition status indices. Increase in body weight was protective against having abnormal lymphocyte levels at 6 weeks (odds ratio [OR]: 0.960-0.974; CI: 0.935-0.997; P < 0.05), while increase in baseline PNI was associated with 0.865-0.941 and 0.675-0.915 odds of having future abnormal WBC and lymphocyte levels, respectively. Increases in PNI were also protective against having future abnormal albumin levels (OR: 0.734-0.886) and 8.5-12.5% decreases in the odds of having an abnormal C-reactive protein level in subsequent visits. Changes in NRS2002 tended to be associated with the odds of having future abnormal blood glucose levels. In conclusion, the serum biochemistry-derived nutrition status index, PNI, is a more consistent measure as an early indicator to track the trends of future changes in the BCPs of cancer patients. This implies that PNI could be targeted as an early-warning measure with relevant preventive interventions for patients at risk of malnutrition., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this study, edible bird's nest (EBN) was proven to be a suitable source of bioactive peptides via enzymatic hydrolysis. The ultrafiltration component of the EBN peptides (EBNPs, Mw < 3 000 Da) could be responsible for moderate moisture retention and filaggrin synthesis. It was found that EBNP had a great capacity to protect HaCaT keratinocytes from DNA damage caused by UVB-irradiation and enhance wound healing by increasing the migratory and proliferative potential of cells. Furthermore, the external application of EBNP could effectively repair high glycolic acid concentration-induced skin burns in mice. A total of 1 188 peptides, predominantly the hydrophobic amino acids (e.g., Leu, Val, Tyr, Phe), were identified in the EBNP by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Molecular docking showed that hydrophobic tripeptides from EBNP had a good binding affinity to proton-dependent oligopeptide transporter PepT1. Our data indicated that the hydrophobic amino acid-rich EBNP plays an important role in skin wound healing.

The majority of the immune cell population in the tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), which are the main players in coordinating tumor-associated inflammation. TAM has a high plasticity and is divided into two main phenotypes, pro-inflammatory M1 type and anti-inflammatory M2 type, with tumor-suppressive and tumor-promoting functions, respectively. Considering the beneficial effects of M1 macrophages for anti-tumor and the high plasticity of macrophages, the conversion of M2 TAM to M1 TAM is feasible and positive for tumor treatment. This study sought to evaluate whether the glycopeptide derived from simulated digested Codonopsis pilosula extracts could regulate the polarization of M2-like TAM toward the M1 phenotype and the potential regulatory mechanisms. The results showed that after glycopeptide dCP1 treatment, the mRNA relative expression levels of some M2 phenotype marker genes in M2-like TAM in simulated TME were reduced, and the relative expression levels of M1 phenotype marker genes and inflammatory factor genes were increased. Analysis of RNA-Seq of M2-like TAM after glycopeptide dCP1 intervention showed that the gene sets such as glycolysis, which is associated with macrophage polarization in the M1 phenotype, were significantly up-regulated, whereas those of gene sets such as IL-6-JAK-STAT3 pathway, which is associated with polarization in the M2 phenotype, were significantly down-regulated. Moreover, PCA analysis and Pearson's correlation also indicated that M2-like TAM polarized toward the M1 phenotype at the transcriptional level after treatment with the glycopeptide dCP1. Lipid metabolomics was used to further explore the efficacy of the glycopeptide dCP1 in regulating the polarization of M2-like TAM to the M1 phenotype. It was found that the lipid metabolite profiles in dCP1-treated M2-like TAM showed M1 phenotype macrophage lipid metabolism profiles compared with blank M2-like TAM. Analysis of the key differential lipid metabolites revealed that the interconversion between phosphatidylcholine (PC) and diacylglycerol (DG) metabolites may be the central reaction of the glycopeptide dCP1 in regulating the conversion of M2-like TAM to the M1 phenotype. The above results suggest that the glycopeptide dCP1 has the efficacy to regulate the polarization of M2-like TAM to M1 phenotype in simulated TME., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Growing concern is about the potential side effects of nanomaterials from food packaging, notably zinc oxide nanoparticles (nZnO). Previous research revealed that walnut-derived peptides could mitigate this inhibitory effect, but the mechanism involved is unclear. Here, we found that not all peptides have such an effect. Based on the growth inhibition model of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LRa05 induced by nZnO, we assessed the protective effects of various peptides. Notably, four peptides containing charged amino acids (PPKNW, WPPKN, ADIYTE, and WEREEQE) were found to effectively alleviate the growth inhibition phenomenon. We hypothesize that the peptide-nZnO interaction modifies this effect, as confirmed through infrared, Raman, and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our results highlight amide bonds, amino groups, carboxyl groups, and benzene rings as key peptide binding sites on nZnO, with static quenching primarily due to hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces. This study elucidates peptide characteristics in nZnO interactions, facilitating a deeper exploration of food matrix-nanocomposite interactions.

Gliomas develop in unique and complicated environments that nourish tumor cells. The tumor microenvironment (TME) of gliomas comprises heterogeneous cells, including brain-resident cells, immune cells, and vascular cells. Reciprocal interactions among these cells are involved in the evolution of the TME. Moreover, the study of attractive therapeutic strategies that target the TME is transitioning from basic research to the clinic. Mouse models are indispensable tools for dissecting the processes and mechanisms leading to TME evolution. In this review, we overview the paradoxical roles of the TME, as well as the recent progress of mouse models in TME research. Finally, we summarize recent advances in TME-targeting therapeutic strategies., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© The author(s).)

Recently, plant protein as a necessary nutrient source for human beings, a common ingredient of traditional processed food, and an important element of new functional food has gained prominence due to the increasing demand for healthy food. Walnut protein (WP) is obtained from walnut kernels and walnut oil-pressing waste and has better nutritional, functional, and essential amino acids in comparison with other vegetable and grain proteins. WP can be conveniently obtained by various extraction techniques, including alkali-soluble acid precipitation, salting-out, and ultrasonic-assisted extraction, among others. The functional properties of WP can be modified for desired purposes by using some novel methods, including free radical oxidation, enzymatic modification, high hydrostatic pressure, etc. Moreover, walnut peptides play an important biological role both in vitro and in vivo . The main activities of the walnut peptides are antihypertensive, antioxidant, learning improvement, and anticancer, among others. Furthermore, WP could be applied in the development of functional foods or dietary supplements, such as delivery systems and food additives, among others. This review summarizes recent knowledge on the nutritional, functional, and bioactive peptide aspects of WP and possible future products, providing a theoretical reference for the utilization and development of oil crop waste.

Oxidative damage has been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous disorders by affecting the normal functions of several tissues. Further, oxidative stress acts within cells to influence cell morphology and the behavior of cell migration. The movement and migration of cells are crucial during the development of organisms as they transition from embryo to adult, and for the homeostasis of adult tissues. Epicatechin (EC) is a natural flavonoid derived mostly from tea, chocolate, and red wine. We investigated the protective impact of EC on D-galactose(D-gal)/rotenone-injured NIH3T3 cells and found alterations in cell dynamics throughout the procedure. The results reveal that D-gal/rotenone stimulation can cause the cell area to expand and the number of cellular protrusions to increase. EC intervention can considerably minimize the oxidative damage of rotenone on NIH3T3 cells (p < 0.05) but showed little influence on cell damage induced by D-gal. Furthermore, the corrective ability of EC as an antioxidant is reflected in a dose-dependent effect on cell movement, including variations in movement speed and distance. Overall, from the perspective of cell morphology and cell motility, EC has a good protective impact on cells harmed by rotenone induced oxidative damage, as well as corrective properties as an antioxidant to balance intracellular oxidative stress, which allowing for a more comprehensive evaluation of antioxidant performance of EC., (© 2023 American Institute of Chemical Engineers.)

Purpose: To describe the normative profile of ophthalmic parameters in a healthy cynomolgus monkey colony, and to identify the characteristic of the spontaneous ocular disease non-human primates (NHP) models., Methods: The NHP eye study was a cross-sectional on-site ocular examination with about 1,000 macaques held in Guangdong Province, southeastern China. The NHPs (Macaca fascicularis, cynomolgus) in this study included middle-aged individuals with a high prevalence of the ocular disease. The NHP eye study (NHPES) performed the information including systematic data and ocular data. Ocular examination included measurement of intraocular pressure (IOP), anterior segment- optical coherence tomography (OCT), slit-lamp examination, fundus photography, autorefraction, electroretinography, etc. Ocular diseases included measurement of refractive error, anisometropia, cataract, pterygium, etc. RESULTS: A total of 1148 subjects were included and completed the ocular examination. The average age was 16.4 ± 4.93 years. Compared to the male participants, the females in the NHPES had shorter axial length and the mean Average retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness (except for the nasal quadrants). The mean IOP, anterior chamber depth, lens thickness, axial length, central corneal thickness, choroid thickness and other parameters were similar in each group., Conclusion: The NHPES is a unique and high-quality study, this is the first large macaque monkey cohort study focusing on ocular assessment along with comprehensive evaluation. Results from the NHPES will provide important information about the normal range of ophthalmic measurements in NHP., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Scope: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is rapidly increasing worldwide but prolong use of available corticosteroids treatment is associated with numerous adverse effects. There is the urgent need to develop novel therapeutic options. However, this requires the use of suitable disease models, but current models are generated with chemical agents mainly in rodents, which are unable to recapitulate the human occurrence. The aim of this study is to validate the occurrence of spontaneous UC in cynomolgus monkeys and explore the potential of Hericium erinaceus mycelium-derived polysaccharide in reversing UC pathologies., Methods and Results: Postmortem bowel evaluation and biochemical analysis including inflammatory markers and fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) as well as nutrition status parameters, confirm the non-artificial induced spontaneous occurrence of UC in cynomolgus monkeys. Subsequently, H. erinaceus mycelium-derived polysaccharide supplementation significantly attenuates UC pathologies, improves nutritional status, reduces the incidence of diarrhea, and reduces inflammation in UC monkeys. Importantly, the polysaccharides administration enhances intestinal function and reshapes the gut microbiota., Conclusion: The study confirms the spontaneous UC monkeys can closely mimic the occurrence of UC in humans. Moreover, H. erinaceus mycelium-derived polysaccharide can effectively restore UC in monkeys, which show the prospects as precision nutritional supplement for the management of UC., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Natural plants are rich sources of various bioactive compounds. Consequently, the efficiently isolation of these bioactive components has always attracted considerable attention. Our work aims to demonstrate a framework for bioactivity guided isolation of potential effective compounds from the complex food materials. We demonstrated its application for isolation of phenolic compounds with anti-proliferative activity against colorectal cancer cells (CRCs) from Citrus aurantium L. Firstly, phenolic rich fraction was successfully identified as the main effective components that could simultaneously suppress the growth of CRCs and inhibit Wnt signaling. In order to obtain the bioactive phenolic constituents, a detailed study was performed by optimizing the purification conditions. Two phenolic rich fractions (40% and 60% ethanol elution fractions) were then obtained by AB-8 macroporous resins under optimized condition. Finally, the main components (65 compounds) were tentatively identified from the 40% ethanol eluant by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) analysis. Notably, there were five of the phytochemicals (Feruloylagmatine, Haploside C, Sagittatin A, Linderagalactone C and Koparin-2'-methyl ether) which were hitherto unidentified in Citrus aurantium L. fruit. In conclusion, this study showed that under the principle of bioactivity guided strategy, phenolic constituents with potential anti-CRCs activity were isolated from Citrus aurantium L., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The effects of different food source proteins on the growth characteristics and intestinal adhesion of Lactobacillus plantarum 45 (LP45) were investigated by adding Ilisha elongata protein, soy protein and whey protein to the probiotic bacteria in vitro and using a probiotic adhesion model based on mouse intestinal tissues. Ilisha elongata protein and soy protein significantly reduced the growth time of LP45 and increased the total number of colonies fermented by LP45; whey protein only reduced the growth time of LP45; the effect of the three food source proteins on the acid production capacity of LP45 was small. These showed that the three food-derived proteins promoted the proliferation and adhesion of probiotics in the intestine, which were beneficial to the active role of intestinal probiotics and improved the intestinal microenvironment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Hyperuricemia is a purine metabolism disorder, with increasing prevalence worldwide. Here, a high throughput cell model for screening of antihyperuricemic compounds was set up. Human kidney cells (HK2 cells) were stimulated with adenosine and the resulting supernatant and lysate were then analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results showed that hypoxanthine content was increased in both HK2 cells supernatant and xanthine oxidase (XO)-overexpressing HK2 cells lysate, but no uric acid was detected due to lower endogenous XO content in these cells. Exogenous XO was added to the supernatant, and then used to evaluate the antihyperuricemic activity of Febuxostat and two the previously identified peptides, Pro-Gly-Ala-Cys-Ser-Asn (PGACSN) and Trp-Met-Leu (WML). By adding exogenous XO, this combined-adenosine-XO-induced hyperuricemia model was optimized and established, and the Febuxostat and peptides were confirmed to significantly reduce uric acid production in the HK2 cells supernatant ( p < 0.05). Therefore, this cell model could be recommended for screening potential bioactive antihyperuricemic compounds.

To effectively deliver lutein, hydrothermally prepared tea seed cake protein nanoparticles (TSCPN) were used to fabricate Pickering emulsion, and the bioaccessibility of lutein encapsulated by Pickering emulsion and the conventional emulsion was evaluated in vitro. The results indicated that the average size and absolute value of zeta potential of TSCPN increased along with the increase in the protein concentration, and 2% protein concentration was adopted to prepare TSCPN. With the increase in the concentration of TSCPN, the size of Pickering emulsion decreased from 337.02 μm to 89.36 μm, and when the TSCPN concentration was greater than 0.6%, all emulsions exhibited good stability during the 14 days storage. Combined with the microstructure result, 1.2% TSCPN was used to stabilize Pickering emulsion. With the increase in ionic concentration (0-400 mM), the particle size of the emulsions increased while the absolute value of zeta potential decreased. TSCPN-based Pickering emulsion was superior to the conventional emulsion for both lutein encapsulation (96.6 ± 1.0% vs. 82.1 ± 1.4%) and bioaccessibility (56.0 ± 1.1% vs. 35.2 ± 1.2%). Thus, TSCPN-based Pickering emulsion in this study have the potential as an effective carrier for lutein.

This study aimed to design a Pickering emulsion (PE) stabilized by whey protein isolate nanofibers (WPINs) prepared with subcritical water (SW) to encapsulate and prevent curcumin (Cur) degradation. Cur-loaded WPINs-SW stabilized PE (WPINs-SW-PE) and hydrothermally prepared WPINs stabilized PE (WPINs-H-PE) were characterized using the particle size, zeta potential, Congo Red, CD, and TEM. The results indicated that WPINs-SW-PE and WPINs-H-PE showed regular spherical shapes with average lengths of 26.88 ± 1.11 μm and 175.99 ± 2.31 μm, and zeta potential values were -38.00 ± 1.00 mV and -34.60 ± 2.03 mV, respectively. The encapsulation efficiencies of WPINs-SW-PE and WPINs-H-PE for Cur were 96.72 ± 1.05% and 94.07 ± 2.35%. The bio-accessibility of Cur of WPINs-SW-PE and WPINs-H-PE were 57.52 ± 1.24% and 21.94 ± 2.09%. In addition, WPINs-SW-PE had a better loading effect and antioxidant activities compared with WPINs-H-PE. SW could be a potential processing method to prepare a PE, laying the foundation for the subsequent production of functional foods.

Lentinus edodes (LE) is very popular in the world and also considered as high purine food. However, few focuses on purine types and its change during food processing. Here, we first compared 3 drying techniques, including roast-drying, freeze-drying, sun-drying on purine contents of LE by using acidolysis and HPLC. It showed that adenine decreased significantly after roast-drying (120 °C), which may be caused by thermal damage of DNA. Total purine decreased significantly after freeze-drying, while roast-dried and sun-dried LE remained unchanged. The effect of moist heat (boiling) on LE purine were also evaluated. Total purine increased due to xanthine increasement (331.72 ± 50.07%). And purine contents transferred into boiled liquid was higher than that in boiled solid. Compared with sun-dry and roast-dry processing, freeze-drying could notably affect the purine release from LE and decrease purine contents. Therefore, freeze-drying is recommended for process techniques for hyperuricemia and gouts populations., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors.)

The effects of aquatic proteins on the proliferation and adhesion of intestinal probiotic bacteria were investigated by in vitro fermentation and mouse in vitrointestinal tissue models. Compared with the control group, the Illisha elongata protein reduced the growth time of Lactobacillus plantarum (LP45) by 34.25% and increased the total number of colonies by 6.61%. The Ilisha elongata salt-solubale protein performed better than water-soluble protein in vitro proliferation of LP45. Ilisha elongata salt-soluble protein significantly increased the number of viable bacteria adhering to intestinal, and caused changes in the amount of polysaccharides, proteins and biofilms in the intestinal tissue model. These results indicate that the Ilisha elongata protein is beneficial to the proliferation and adhesion of probiotics in the intestinal, and can be used as an active protein beneficial to intestinal health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Scope: Aging has become one of major concern worldwide. It is therefore of great significance in finding food resources as therapeutic candidates for aging-related functional decline improvement and prevention. This study aimed to define the potency of Haematococcus pluvialis (H. pluvialis) as an anti-aging food resource., Methods and Results: Yeast is used to explore the anti-aging effects of H. pluvialis. The result showed that H. pluvialis extract could effectively extend yeast chronological lifespan (CLS) by reducing intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, promoting mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) levels and accumulating storage carbohydrate (glycogen). Subsequently, Slc25a46 knockout (Slc25a46 -/- ) mice with mitochondrial dysfunction are fed with 100 mg kg -1 H. pluvialis extracts for 10 days. The in vivo data demonstrated that H. pluvialis extract could effectively improve the phenotypic deficits, including underweight, muscle weakness, redox imbalance, and mitochondrial respiratory chain dysfunction, etc., in Slc25a46 -/- mice., Conclusions: This work highlights that the mitochondria may be a potential therapeutic target for combating aging, and demonstrated that H. pluvialis, as a dietary supplement, may potentially be an effective preventive substance that may contribute to the promotion of healthy aging., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Gastric mucosal injury is a common gastrointestinal disorder. Hericium erinaceus polysaccharide, the major active ingredient in Hericium erinaceus , can reduce gastric mucosal damage to some extent. In this study, two different products HMP-Vc and HMP-Ce were obtained by Vitamin C and cellulase degradation of Hericium erinaceus mycelium polysaccharide (HMP). The gastroprotective activity of polysaccharides and its interaction products with food additives silica nanoparticles (nSiO 2 ) were studied in GES-1 cells. It was found that gastroprotective activity of HMP was significantly higher than that of degradation products, and the addition of nSiO 2 could enhance this activity of HMP. The greatest difference between the degradation products and HMP was the reduction of the triple helix structure, which might be the reason of the gastroprotective activity was less than that of HMP. Moreover, nSiO 2 might interact with HMP through hydrogen bonding to enhance its activity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Microbes like viruses, bacteria, and fungi have all been reported in the brain of Alzheimer's postmortem patients and/or AD mouse model; however, the relationship between brain microbes and Aβ plaque deposition remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we first analyzed bacteria populations in the brain of 4-, 5-, and 6-month-old APP/PS1 mice and then examined the Aβ-positive loads of APP/PS1 mouse at 9 months old to identify bacteria in the brain by 16S rDNA sequencing. Finally, blood-brain barrier permeability was measured by injecting dextrans through the tail vein. Surprisingly, the diversity of microbial community gradually decreased in APP/PS1 mouse while wild-type mouse showed no obvious regularity. Moreover, Aβ-positive deposits in the brain showed a significantly higher relative abundance of microbiota than Aβ-negative tissues and age-matched wild-type mouse brain tissues. In addition, an increase in blood-brain barrier permeability was also observed in APP/PS1 mouse. The present study revealed the exact location of microbes within the Aβ plaques in the brain and suggested the potential antimicrobial effect of the Aβ peptide. We strongly recommend that future research on microbiota-related AD pathology should focus on the migration route of microbiota into the brain and how the microbiota enhance AD progression.

Cinnamomum cassia Presl. (CCP) is a popular natural spice possessing various pharmacological properties. We obtained polyphenol-rich fraction (CCP-P) from CCP by bioactivity-oriented purification method and evaluated its Wnt signaling inhibition activity. Firstly, the phenolic components were identified as the main bioactive compounds with anti-colorectal cancer activity. Then, we compared the anti-colorectal cancer activity of CCP extract obtained from different solvent by cell morphology alteration and EdU assay. Ethanol extract showed higher antiproliferative activity compared to water extract on HCT116 cells, with proliferating cells reducing to 41.12 and 21.83% at 156.00 μg GAE/mL, respectively. Next, separation and enrichment of polyphenols from ethanol extract was performed on AB-8 macroporous resins under optimal conditions. Further evaluation of the CCP-P bioactivity revealed that it exerted more potent antiproliferative activity on RKO and HCT116 cells, showing higher selectivity for Wnt-dependent colorectal cancer cells (CRCs). Ten major polyphenols were identified in the CCP-P by UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. In summary, this study presents evidence that CCP-derived polyphenols are promising potential candidates as functional food ingredients against CRC.

The structure and bioactivity of a novel polysaccharide from Platycladus orientalis (L.) Franco leaves (POP2) were investigated in the present study. Structure characterization demonstrated that the average molecular weight of POP2 was 9.69 kDa and consisted of arabinose (14.39%), mannose (10.24%), glucose (63.95%) and galactose (11.42%). The main linkage types of POP2 consisted of (1→4)-linked α-d-Glc and (1→6)-linked α-d-Glc based on methylation and NMR analysis. Bioactivity evaluation showed that POP2 could effectively promote the secretion of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α), as well as the anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10) in LPS-induced cells. Besides, the secretion of NO was significantly inhibited by POP2 in M1 model. POP2 could enhance the level of inflammatory cytokines (NO, IL-6 and TNF-α), while the secretion of the anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β was markedly suppressed in IL-4 induced cells. Our work attempted to elucidate the regulation of macrophage polarization and support the potential application of POP2 as bioactive ingredient for functional foods., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Lots of active substances are hydrophobic materials at ambient and body temperatures, decreasing their bioavailability and posing great challenges to successful incorporation into medication and functional foods. The goal of this research was to develop a nanoemulsion delivery system containing a hydrophobic crystalline bioactive component (nobiletin) to improve the anti-inflammatory activity. Nobiletin was incorporated into the oily phase, and the nanoemulsions were fabricated using high-speed and high-pressure homogenization. Particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), and zeta potential were evaluated by a commercial laser light scattering instrument. The anti-inflammatory activities were performed in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. The developed nobiletin nanoemulsion had an average droplet size of 168.6 ± 3.8 nm and a PDI of 0.168, while the average diameter of the blank nanoemulsion was 157.3 ± 1.9 nm and its PDI was 0.161. The zeta potential values of nobiletin nanoemulsion and blank nanoemulsion were -68.45 ± 0.64 and -62.75 ± 0.21 mV, respectively. All obtained nanoemulsions kept physically stable during storage at 4, 25, and 37 °C. A nobiletin-loaded nanoemulsion showed an enhanced anti-inflammatory activity in LPS-induced macrophages, with a decrease in pro-inflammatory mediators and cytokines. The findings suggested that the nanoemulsion would be used as an effective delivery system for nobiletin to improve its anti-inflammatory activity.

This contribution reports a facile synthesis of degreased walnut peptides (WP1)-functionalized selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) hybrids with enhanced anticancer activity and a detailed mechanistic evaluation of its superior anticancer activity. Structural and chemical characterizations proved that SeNPs are effectively capped with WP1 via physical absorption, resulting in a stable hybrid structure with an average diameter of 89.22 nm. A panel of selected human cancer cell lines demonstrated high susceptibility toward WP1-SeNPs and displayed significantly reduced proliferative behavior. The as-synthesized WP1-SeNPs exhibited excellent selectivity between cancer cells and normal cells. The targeted induction of apoptosis in human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7) was confirmed by the accumulation of arrested S-phase cells, nuclear condensation, and DNA breakage. Careful investigations revealed that an extrinsic apoptotic pathway can be attributed to the cell apoptosis and the same was confirmed by activation of the Fas-associated with death domain protein and caspases 3, 8, and 9. In addition, it was also understood that intrinsic apoptotic pathways including reactive oxygen species generation, as well as the reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential, are also involved in the WP1-SeNP-induced apoptosis. This suggested the involvement of multiple apoptosis pathways in the anticancer activity. Our results indicated that WP1-SeNP hybrids with Se core encapsulated in a WP1 shell could be a highly effective method to achieve anticancer synergism. Moreover, the great potential exhibited by WP1-SeNPs could make them an ideal candidate as a chemotherapeutic agent for human cancers, especially for breast cancer.

Frog (Hylarana guentheri) proteins were hydrolyzed by papain and Flavourzyme to obtain antioxidative peptides. The antioxidant activities of the frog protein hydrolysates (FPHs) were measured, including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (IC50=9.94±0.13 mg/mL), reducing power (0.39±0.01 at 5.0 mg/mL), and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) value (789.15±75.10 μmol Trolox equivalents/g). The hydrolysates were purified by ultrafiltration, ion exchange chromatography, gel filtration chromatography, and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Through analysis of ESI-MS/MS, two dipeptides were identified as Leu/Ile-Lys (259.1607 Da) and Phe-Lys (293.1446 Da), respectively.

Due to the poor protein solubility, hot-pressed peanut meal (HPM) has less value than cold-pressed peanut meal (CPM) in the food industry. The objective of this study was to determine whether the denatured proteins in HPM were suitable for hydrolysis by digestive enzymes. The hydrolysis characteristics and antioxidant activity of HPM and CPM during in vitro digestion were compared. The results showed that HPM was hydrolysed more extensively than CPM. There were more free amino acids and small peptides with MW<5 kDa in HPM hydrolysates. In addition, HPM hydrolysates displayed stronger 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,20-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical-scavenging activities, ORAC value and reducing power than CPM hydrolysates, which could be due to the higher content of small peptides, antioxidative amino acids and melanoidins in HPM hydrolysates. The above results indicated that HPM was a potential source of protein supplement for human consumption., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We investigated the effects of grass carp protein or peptide administration on swimming endurance in mice., Methods: Grass carp protein or peptide was intragastrically administered to male National Institutes of Health mice at low [1 mg/(g·d)] and high [5 mg/(g·d)] doses, continuously once per day before swimming exercise. After training for 28 d, fatigue-related biochemical parameters, including liver glycogen, gastrocnemius muscle glycogen, plasma glucose, serum lactic acid, blood urea nitrogen, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, and catalase (CAT), were assayed., Results: Compared with the control group, all treatments applied significantly prolonged the exercise time, and high-dose peptide administration was the most effective (P<0.001). Liver glycogen was remarkably increased by seven times or more by protein or peptide ingestion compared with that of the control group. High-dose protein or peptide addition significantly elevated liver glycogen, muscle glycogen, glucose level, and the removal of metabolites, serum lactic acid, and blood urea nitrogen was greater after exercise. In terms of the comparison between protein versus peptide, high-dose peptide addition significantly enhanced CAT (P=0.016) and SOD (P=0.007), while no significant differences were observed for glutathione peroxidase, glucose, liver glycogen, or muscle glycogen between high-dose peptide and protein addition. The difference between low-dose protein and peptide supplementation was not significant., Conclusion: Grass carp protein or peptide significantly improved the endurance capacity of mice. The superiority of peptide over protein was observed at high-dose supplementation, which was mainly attributed to the significant enhancement of antioxidant enzyme levels (CAT and SOD)., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)