Biocatalytical Acyl-Modification of Puerarin: Shape Gut Microbiota Profile and Improve Short Chain Fatty Acids Production in Rats.

Gut microbiota balance and metabolites have become a potentially mechanism in maintaining health. The specific aim of this study was to compare the modulation of puerarin and puerarin acid esters on gut microbial composition and metabolites. Male mice were fed a control diet or diets supplemented with puerarin, puerarin propanoate ester, puerarin hexanoate ester, puerarin myristate ester for 24 h, respectively. The result revealed that puerarin acid esters with different chain lengths showed different activities to create more own impacted bacterial. Puerarin propanoate and puerarin hexanoate ester significantly improved the diversity of microbiota and promoted the relative abundance of beneficial gut microbiota such as Lactobacillus, Barnesiella, Clostridium IV, Prevotella. Additionally, the puerarin propanoate ester group showed the capacity to deliver specific propionic acid to the colon. But esters with medium-long chain lengths had more opportunity to alter gut microbiota for enhancing the short chain fatty acids production. As a whole, puerarin acid esters with different chain lengths supplements shaped different gut microbial and short chain fatty acids metabolism, which could improve human health.

In vitro antioxidant activity of Bombax malabaricum flower extracts.

CONTEXT: Bombax malabaricum DC. (Bombacaceae) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine used for the treatment of inflammatory conditions, diarrhea, fever, chronic inflammation, catarrhal affection, and as a diuretic. However, little information is available about its antioxidative activity. OBJECTIVE: Water, 50% ethanol, and 80% acetone extracts from flowers of B. malabaricum were investigated for their in vitro antioxidant activity in this article for the first time. Then the relationships between antioxidant activity measured by different methods and total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) were established. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antioxidant activities of extracts from B. malabaricum flower were investigated including 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity, oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), reducing power, and inhibition on phosphatidylcholine liposome peroxidation. RESULTS: Results showed that all the extracts possessed remarkable antioxidant capacity compared with ascorbic or gallic acids. Total antioxidant activities evaluated by ORAC assay of different extracts ranged from 700.03 to 1482.46 µmol Trolox equivalents/g. The highest TPC of 130.38 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g was observed in 80% acetone extract, whereas the lowest TPC of 57.09 mg GAE/g was obtained in the water extract. Furthermore, TFC exhibited significant (P < 0.05) positive correlations with DPPH radical-scavenging activity, ORAC, and reducing power. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that the flowers of B. malabaricum have excellent antioxidant activities and thus might be a potential source of natural antioxidants.

A multipathogen selective enrichment broth for simultaneous growth of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes.

A selective enrichment broth (SSL) was formulated to allow concurrent growth of 3 prominent food-borne pathogens: Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes. Nalidixic acid, lithium chloride, and potassium tellurite were added as the selective agents, while sodium pyruvate and mannitol were employed as the supplemented elements. In the individual growth trial, the target pathogens were capable of growing in SSL to as high as 7-8 log(10) colony-forming units (CFU)/mL after 24 h incubation at 37 degrees C when being inoculated at 50-100 CFU/mL. In the simultaneous growth trial, the 3 combined target pathogens showed similar growth rates. The results show that SSL could support the successful simultaneous enrichment of 3 pathogens; however, SSL inhibited the growth of nontarget bacteria. In the artificial contaminated raw beef and ready-to-eat chicken, a high recovery of these 3 target pathogens was obtained in SSL. Finally, Salmonella Enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and L. monocytogenes were detected from 710 suspicious food samples by SSL with real-time PCR, and no false-positive or -negative results were reported. In summary, SSL has been shown to be a suitable broth for the simultaneous detection of the 3 prominent food-borne pathogens by multipathogen detection on a single-assay platform.