Lycium barbarum (Goji) as functional food: a review of its nutrition, phytochemical structure, biological features, and food industry prospects.

Lycium genus (Goji berry) is recognized as a good source of homology of medicine and food, with various nutrients and phytochemicals. Lately, numerous studies have focused on the chemical constituents and biological functions of the L. barbarum L., covering phytochemical and pharmacological aspects. We aim to provide exclusive data on the nutrients of L. barbarum L. fruits and phytochemicals, including their structural characterization, the evolution of extraction, and purification processes of different phytochemicals of L. barbarum L. fruit while placing greater emphasis on their wide-ranging health effects. This review also profitably offers innovative approaches for the food industry and industrial applications of L. barbarum L. and addresses some current situations and problems in the development of L. barbarum L. in deep processing products, which can provide clues for the sustainable development of L. barbarum L. industry.

Preventive Effects of Anthocyanins from Lyciumruthenicum Murray in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice Are Related to the Regulation of Intestinal Microbiota and Inhibition of Pancreatic Lipase Activity.

Lyciumruthenicum Murray (L. ruthenicum) has been used both as traditional Chinese medicine and food. Recent studies indicated that anthocyanins are the most abundant bioactive compounds in the L. ruthenicum fruits. The purpose of this study was to investigate the preventive effects and the mechanism of the anthocycanins from the fruit of L. ruthenicum (ACN) in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. In total, 24 male C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups: control group (fed a normal diet), high-fat diet group (fed a high-fat diet, HFD), and HFD +ACN group (fed a high-fat diet and drinking distilled water that contained 0.8% crude extract of ACN). The results showed that ACN could significantly reduce the body weight, inhibit lipid accumulation in liver and white adipose tissue, and lower the serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels compared to that of mice fed a high-fat diet. 16S rRNA gene sequencing of bacterial DNA demonstrated that ACN prevent obesity by enhancing the diversity of cecal bacterial communities, lowering the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidota ratio, increasing the genera Akkermansia, and decreasing the genera Faecalibaculum. We also studied the inhibitory effect of ACN on pancreatic lipase. The results showed that ACN has a high affinity for pancreatic lipase and inhibits the activity of pancreatic lipase, with IC50 values of 1.80 (main compound anthocyanin) and 3.03 mg/mL (crude extract), in a competitive way. Furthermore, fluorescence spectroscopy studies showed that ACN can quench the intrinsic fluorescence of pancreatic lipase via a static mechanism. Taken together, these findings suggest that the anthocyanins from L. ruthenicum fruits could have preventive effects in high-fat-diet induced obese mice by regulating the intestinal microbiota and inhibiting the pancreatic lipase activity.

The main anthocyanin monomer of Lycium ruthenicum Murray induces apoptosis through the ROS/PTEN/PI3K/Akt/caspase 3 signaling pathway in prostate cancer DU-145 cells.

Anthocyanins have been reported to have effective chemopreventive activity. Lycium ruthenicum Murray is rich in anthocyanins and exhibits many biological activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects and possible biological mechanism of the main anthocyanin monomer (Pt3G) of Lycium ruthenicum Murray on prostate cancer DU-145 cells. The cell proliferation was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay. The cell apoptosis rates were assessed by flow cytometric analysis and TUNEL assay. The expressions of apoptosis related proteins were evaluated by western blotting. Our data demonstrated that Pt3G inhibited cell proliferation, induced apoptosis and promoted cell cycle arrest at the S phase in a concentration-dependent manner (0, 100, 200 and 400 µg mL-1). Furthermore, it was shown that Pt3G decreased the mitochondrial membrane permeability through regulating the expressions of Bax and Bcl-2. Western blot analysis indicated that Pt3G significantly increased the expression of PTEN and then activated the PI3K/Akt-mediated caspase 3 pathway. In addition, our results also suggested that Pt3G activated the PTEN gene to induce the apoptosis of DU-145 cells by stimulating the overproduction of ROS. To sum up, these results indicate that Pt3G inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis through the ROS/PTEN/PI3K/Akt/caspase 3 signaling pathway in prostate cancer DU-145 cells. Therefore, Pt3G of Lycium ruthenicum Murray may be a potential anti-proliferative agent for the prevention or treatment of prostate cancer.

Lycium barbarum polysaccharides as an adjuvant for recombinant vaccine through enhancement of humoral immunity by activating Tfh cells.

Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) have been shown to play a variety of immune-modulatory functions which include activation of T and B cells. Follicular helper T (Tfh) cells are now recognized as a subset of helper T cells which regulate the multiple stages of B cell maturation and function. In our current study, we found that LBP were able to activate CXCR5+PD-1+ Tfh cells and induce IL-21 secretion. At the same time LBP also promoted the formation of germinal centers (GC) and production of GL-7+B220+GC B cells. LBP as an adjuvant could increase generation of rAd5VP1-induced Tfh cells. Our results indicate that LBP might enhance T cell-dependent Ab responses by acting as an adjuvant for the generation of Tfh cells. Future vaccine designs might therefore be targeted to induce strong antigen-specific Tfh responses in order to boost its protective effects.