RSM and ANN-based Optimization of Ultrasound-assisted Extraction of Functional Components from Olive Fruit (cv Arbequina): Assessment of Antioxidant Attributes and GC-MS Profiling.

The current study proposes an optimized ethanolic extraction for the efficient recovery of high-value components from Pakistani olives (cv. Arbequina) using response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural networking (ANN). The extracts were investigated for antioxidant properties and GC-MS metabolite profiling.  Four factors such as time, temperature, solvent concentration, and solute weight (g/100 mL) were utilized as independent variables for determining the response (% yield).  The results obtained under optimum extraction conditions such as duration (25 min), temperature (45°C), solvent concentration (65%; ethanol: water v/v), and solute (7.50 g) indicated an extract yield of 40.96% from Arbiquina olives. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the RSM model showed significant p-values and a correlation coefficient (R2) of 0.9960, confirming model reliability.  The multilayer perceptron architecture was used in ANN, and the results were fairly consistent with the experimental findings. Arbequina olive extract (AOE) demonstrated significant antioxidant ability in terms of total phenolics, total flavonoid concentration, and DPPH radical scavenging. The GC-MS analysis of AOE revealed the presence of several bioactives, including oleic acid (36.22%), hydroxytyrosol (3.95%), tyrosol (3.32%), ß-sitosterol (2.10%), squalene (1.10%), sinapic acid (0.67%), α-tocopherol (0.66%), vanillic acid (0.56%), 3,5-di-tert-butylcatechol (0.31%), and quercetin.

Evaluation of Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Potential of Oxalis corymbosa Extracts.

This work aimed to assess the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of Oxalis corymbosa extracts. Biochemical analyses were conducted on various plant parts, utilizing enzymatic and non-enzymatic assays. Parameters such as total soluble protein, chlorophyll, and carotenoid contents were also evaluated to elucidate the role of bioactive chemical compounds. The antimicrobial screening of extracts was performed against the bacterial and fungal strains Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans, respectively. Results indicated that chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid content, anthocyanin content, catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase were most abundant in the O. corymbosa leaves. Moreover, total ascorbate peroxidase content, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content were found to be higher in the roots compared to other parts. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis identified chlorogenic acid as the major component, followed by gallic acid, caffeic acid, quercetin, and salicylic acid. Regarding antibacterial potential, each extract exhibited significant activity, with methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts demonstrating the maximum inhibition zone against S. aureus and E. coli, respectively. These findings highlight the substantial antioxidant and antibacterial potential of different parts of O. corymbosa, suggesting their promising applications as ingredients in various nutraceutical products.

Exploring the Biochemical and Nutra-Pharmaceutical Prospects of Some Thymus Species - A Review.

The Thymus genus includes various medicinal and aromatic species, cultivated worldwide for their unique medicinal and economic value. Besides, their conventional use as a culinary flavoring agent, Thymus species are well-known for their diverse biological effects, such as antioxidant, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-hypertensive properties. Hence, they are used in the treatment of fever, colds, and digestive and cardiovascular diseases. The pharmaceutical significance of Thymus plants is due to their high levels of bioactive components such as natural terpenoid phenol derivatives (p-cymene, carvacrol, thymol, geraniol), flavonoids, alkaloids, and phenolic acids. This review examines the phytochemicals, biological properties, functional food, and nutraceutical attributes of some important Thymus species, with a specific focus on their potential uses in the nutra-pharmaceutical industries. Furthermore, the review provides an insight into the mechanisms of biological activities of key phytochemicals of Thymus species exploring their potential for the development of novel natural drugs.

Optimal Enzyme-Assisted Extraction of Phenolics from Leaves of Pongamia pinnata via Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Networking.

This research work seeks to evaluate the impact of selected enzyme complexes on the optimised release of phenolics from leaves of Pongamia pinnata. After preliminary solvent extraction, the P. pinnata leaf extract was subjected to enzymatic treatment, using enzyme cocktails such as kemzyme dry-plus, natuzyme, and zympex-014. It was noticed that zympex-014 had a greater extract yield (28.0%) than kemzyme dry-plus (17.0%) and natuzyme (18.0%). Based on the better outcomes, zympex-014-based extract values were subsequently applied to several RSM parameters. The selected model is suggested to be significant by the F value (12.50) and R2 value (0.9669). The applicability of the ANN model was shown by how closely the projected values from the ANN were to the experimental values. In terms of total phenolic contents (18.61 mg GAE/g), total flavonoid contents (12.56 mg CE/g), and DPPH test (IC50) (6.5 g/mL), antioxidant activities also shown significant findings. SEM analysis also revealed that the cell walls were damaged during enzymatic hydrolysis, as opposed to non-hydrolysed material. Using GC-MS, five potent phenolic compounds were identified in P. pinnata extract. According to the findings of this study, the recovery of phenolic bioactives and subsequent increase in the antioxidant capacity of P. pinnata leaf extract were both positively impacted by the optimisation approaches suggested, including the use of zympex-014.