Exploring the Bioactive Compounds in Some Apple Vinegar Samples and Their Biological Activities.

Apple vinegar is highly recommended for nutrition due to its health benefits and bioactive components. However, the apple cultivar greatly influences the quality of the vinegar. In this research, our focus was on examining the impact of four different apple cultivars on the physicochemical attributes, chemical composition, as well as biological properties-including antidepressant and anti-inflammatory activities-of vinegar. Interestingly, the physicochemical properties of vinegar and the contents of acetic acid and polyphenols depend on the apple cultivars. HPLC chromatographic analysis showed that citric acid (820.62-193.63 mg/100 g) and gallic acid (285.70-54.40 µg/g) were mostly abundant in the vinegar samples. The in vivo results showed that administration of Golden Delicious apple vinegar (10 mL/kg) to adult Wistar rats reduced carrageenan-induced inflammation by 37.50%. The same vinegar sample exhibited a significant antidepressant effect by reducing the rats' immobility time by 31.07% in the forced swimming test. Due to its high acidity, Golden Delicious vinegar was found to be more effective against bacteria, particularly Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans, resulting in a MIC value of 31.81 mg/mL. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of various vinegar samples was found to be powerful, displaying optimal values of IC50 = 65.20 mg/mL, 85.83%, and 26.45 AAE/g in the DPPH, ß-carotene decolorization and TAC assays, respectively. In conclusion, the apple cultivars used in this study impact the chemical composition and biological activities of vinegar, which may help demonstrate the importance of raw material selection for the production of vinegar.

Papaver rhoeas L. stem and flower extracts: Anti-struvite, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antidepressant activities.

The Papaver rhoeas L. (P. rhoeas) plant, which belongs to the Papaveraceae family, is also used as food and is exploited to treat several health problems. The purpose of this research is to determine the anti-struvite, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antidepressant effects of the stem extract (SE) and flower extract (FE) of the plant P. rhoeas. We used polarizing microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) to evaluate the anti-struvite effect of our plant. The edema approach induced by the carrageenan molecule was used to study the anti-inflammatory impact of our extracts. The analgesic test was determined by calculating the number of abdominal contractions induced by the intraperitoneal (IP) administration of acetic acid. To evaluate the antidepressant effect of our extracts, we used the forced swimming test (FST). According to the results of the secondary metabolite extraction, both extracts contained high contents of secondary metabolites, while the results of the screening test showed that flavonoids, alkaloids, phenols, tannins, coumarins, saponins, and terpenoids were present. The result of struvite crystallization inhibition observed by polarizing microscopy and FT-IR shows the inhibition of struvite crystal aggregation by SE by decreasing the amount and size of crystals in a manner similar to cystone. The results of anti-inflammatory activity show maximum inhibition of edema after six hours of carrageenan injection in rats (T6) for all extracts, with a maximum value of 86.36% for SE at the dose of 200 mg/kg. Regarding the analgesic effect of our plant, the lowest number of abdominal contractions was observed in rats treated with SE at a dose of 400 mg/kg. The FST results show that the lowest immobilization time was observed in rats treated with FE at a dose of 400 mg/kg. The results obtained show that the flowers and stems of P. rhoeas can constitute a rich source of bioactive molecules with potential pharmaceutical applications.

Total Phenolic Content and Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activities of Papaver rhoeas L. Organ Extracts Growing in Taounate Region, Morocco.

The objective of this study is to valorize Papaver rhoeas L. from the Taounate region of Morocco by determining the total polyphenol content (TPC), the total flavonoid content (TFC) and the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of four organs. The quantification of TPC and TFC in root, stem, leaf and flower extracts (RE, SE, LE and FE, respectively) was estimated by the Folin-Ciocalteu reaction and the aluminum trichloride method, respectively. Two tests were used to assess antioxidant power: the DPPH test and TAC assay. The antimicrobial activity was studied against five pathogenic bacteria and yeast, using two methods: disk diffusion and microdilution. The TPC in LE and LF was twice as high as that in RE and SE (24.24 and 22.10 mg GAE/g, respectively). The TFC values in the four extracts were very close and varied between 4.50 mg QE/g in the FE and 4.38 mg QE/g in the RE. The LE and FE showed low DPPH values with IC50 = 0.50 and 0.52 mg/mL, respectively. The TAC measurement revealed the presence of a significant amount of antioxidants in the studied extracts, mainly in LE and FE (6.60 and 5.53 mg AAE/g, respectively). The antimicrobial activity results revealed significant activity on almost all of the tested strains. The MIC of FE and SE against E. coli 57 was 1.56 and 0.78 mg/mL, respectively, while against the S. aureus it was 50 and 25 mg/mL, respectively. The low MLC value (1.56 mg/mL) was recorded against E. coli 57 by RE and SE.