Antioxidant and lipase inhibitory activities and essential oil composition of pomegranate peel extracts.

The chemical composition of essential oil, antioxidant and pancreatic lipase inhibitory activities of various solvent extracts obtained from pomegranate peelTunisian cultivar was evaluated. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was used to determine the composition of the PP essential oil. Nine-teen components were identified and the main compounds were the camphor (60.32%) and the benzaldehyde (20.98%). The phenolic and flavonoids content varied from 0 to 290.10 mg Gallic acid equivalent and from 5.2 to 20.43 mg catechin equivalent/g dried extract. The antioxidant activity of various solvent extracts from pomegranate peel was also investigated using various in vitro assays as the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical method, ß-carotene bleaching and reducing power assays.Methanol and ethanol extracts showed the most potent antioxidant activity in all assays tested followed by water and acetone extracts. The inhibitory effect of the pomegranate peelextracts on porcine pancreatic lipase was evaluated and the results showed that ethanol and methanol extracts markedly reduced lipase activity. Generally, the highestlipase activity inhibitory (100%) was observed at a concentration of 1 mg/ml after 30 min of incubation. LC-MS analysis of ethanol extract showed the presence of four components which are cholorogenic acid, mannogalloylhexoside, gallic acid and ellagic acid. Our findings demonstrate that the ethanol extract from pomegranate peel might be a good candidate for furtherinvestigations of new bioactive substances.

Kinetic properties of a novel Fusarium solani (phospho)lipase: a monolayer study.

Using the monomolecular film technique, we studied interfacial properties of Fusarium solani lipase (FSL). This lipolytic enzyme was found to be unique among the fungal lipases possessing not only a lipase activity but also a high phospholipase one.The FSL was able to hydrolyze dicaprin films at various surface pressures. The surface pressure dependency, the stereospecificity, and the regioselectivity of FSL were performed using optically pure stereoisomers of diglyceride (1,2-sn- dicaprin and 2,3-sn-dicaprin) and a prochiral isomer (1,3-sn-dicaprin) spread as monomolecular films at the air-water interface. The FSL prefers adjacent ester groups of the diglyceride isomers (1,2-sn-dicaprin and 2,3-sn-dicaprin) at low and high surface pressures. Furthermore, FSL was found to be markedly stereospecific for the sn-1 position of the 1,2-sn-enantiomer of dicaprin at both low and high surface pressures.Moreover, FSL shows high activities on phospholipids monolayers. However, this enzyme displays high preference to zwitterionic phospholipids compared to the negatively charged ones.

Antibacterial, anti-chlamydial, and cytotoxic activities of a marine snail (Hexaplex trunculus) phospholipase A2: an in vitro study.

In order to report pharmacological characterization of marine snail (Hexaplex trunculus) hepatopancreatic phospholipase A(2) (mSDPLA(2)), we have talked for the first time the antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacterial strains, anti-chlamydial activity as well as its cytotoxic activity against McCoy cell lines. mSDPLA(2), showed a high level of activity towards Gram-positive bacteria as Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Whereas Gram-negative bacteria, unfortunately, exhibited a higher resistance, mSDPLA(2) was also found to have a strong cytotoxic activity, causing significant morphological alterations of the McCoy cell lines surfaces and to be a hinder to the proliferation. Moreover, mSDPLA(2) proved to have a very potent anti-chlamydial activity. Over 95 % inhibition of chlamydial inclusions were obtained at a concentration of 10 µg/ml of mSDPLA(2) after 24 h postinfection. Interestingly, at a concentration of 10 µg/ml of mSDPLA(2), the proliferation of McCoy cells was not affected. Approximately 50 % inhibition of cell growth was obtained with a concentration of 37 µg/mL of mSDPLA(2). mSDPLA(2) could be considered as an excellent candidate for the development of a new anti-infective agent. This enzyme showed significant antimicrobial activities.