Antioxidant Activity and Characterization of One New Polysaccharide Obtained from Perigord Truffle (Tuber huidongense).

As a medicinal and edible fungus parasitizing on the trees, Perigord Truffle (Tuber huidongense) is well known for its delicious taste, unique smell, and high medical value for healthcare. One new water-soluble nonstarch polysaccharide (PST-W with the yield of 0.41%) from Perigord Truffle (Tuber huidongense) was purified and identified on structural characteristics for the first time. The characterizations of PST-W were studied on physicochemical properties, main components of monosaccharide(s), and molecular structure. The monosaccharide compositions of PST-W were studied and identified as glucan, only containing D-glucoses with the molecular structure of [→6) α-D-Glcp (1 → 6) α-D-Glcp (1→] n by methylation analysis and NMR. In the determination of total reducing capacity, the reducing abilities of polysaccharide extracts could be listed as vitamin C > PST-W > crude polysaccharides-3 > crude polysaccharides-2 > crude polysaccharides-1. All of PST-W, crude polysaccharides-2, and crude polysaccharides-3 were relatively good scavenger for 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical 2,2-Diphenyl-1-(2,4,6-trinitrophenyl)hydrazyl radicals with IC50 of 2.81, 4.17, and 3.44 mg/mL, respectively. However, O2 (-∙) clearing abilities of PST-W and crude polysaccharides were obviously weaker. The activities of total crude extract were the worst, indicating that the impurities might negatively affect the antioxidant activity. Thus, the separation and purification of polysaccharides were significant to increase the antioxidant activity in some degree.

Inhibitory effects of resistant starch (RS3) as a carrier for stachyose on dextran sulfate sodium-induced ulcerative colitis in C57BL/6 mice.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of resistant starch 3 (RS3) as a carrier for stachyose on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in C57BL/6 mice. RS3 microspheres carrying stachyose (RS3 + stachyose) were produced and evaluated as a potentially improved colitis therapy for this study. The body weights of the mice treated with RS3 + stachyose were higher compared with those of DSS-treated control mice. RS3 + stachyose reduced the levels of the serum pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α to a greater extent compared with the same concentration of stachyose combined with ordinary starch (stachyose + starch). Histopathological examination of sections of colon tissues showed that the RS3 + stachyose group recovered well from colitis; however, the tissue sections of the stachyose + starch group presented necrosis to a more serious degree. These results suggest that stachyose with an RS3 carrier has better preventative effects on colitis than stachyose alone in mice.

[Effect of powder's particle size on the quantitative prediction of volatile oil content in Zanthoxylum bungeagum by NIR technique].

The traditional chemical methods to measure the volatile oil content of zanthoxylum bungeagum encounter some problems such as long time and low efficiency, so it is difficult to achieve rapid detection. One hundred forty-one samples including 74 zanthoxylum bungeagum maxim and 67 zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et zucc were collected, from many provinces in China such as Shan Xi, Si Chuan, Gan Su, Chong Qing, Yun Nan, etc. Each sample was crushed and sorted to 8 kinds of powder samples according to the particle size of 120-mesh, 100-mesh, 80-mesh, 60-mesh, 40-mesh, 20-mesh, 10-mesh, respectively, including the material retained by the 10-mesh sieve. Then, each powder sample was labeled by one of the following serial numbers: 120, 100, 080, 060, 040, 020, 010 and 000. For each sample, the NIR spectra of 8 different kinds of particle size powders were measured using a Bruker MATRIX-I FT-NIR spectrometer. Then, the 8 different kinds of particle size powders of each sample were mixed uniformly. The volatile oil content was measured in each sample according to the distillation stipulated by the Forestry Standard of PRC-Quality Classify of Prickly Ash (LY/T 1652-2005). Based on near infrared spectroscopy technique and partial least squares (PLS), 8 calibration models of predicting volatile oil content were established by 141 powder samples with 8 different kinds of particle size. Experiments indicatd that the model was the best with the powder's particle size of 40-mesh and the determination coefficient (r2(141)) and the root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV141) were 0.9364 and 0.421, respectively. The model was established by the calibration set with 105 samples with particle size of 40-mesh. Applying the model to the test set with 36 samples, the determination coefficient (r2(36)), the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP36), the relative standard deviation (RSD36), and the ratio of prediction to deviation (RPD36) were 0.9233, 0.452, 11.66%, and 3.624, respectively. The model, based on the same sample set but optimized by OPUS 5.0, was developed by spectral data pretreatment of the Mean Centering+Vector Normalization in the spectral region of 6 100.1-5 774.2 cm(-1) and 4 601.6-4 424.2 cm(-1). Using the model to predict the test set, r2(36), RMSEP36, RSD36, and RPD36 were 0.9862, 0.192, 4.95%, and 8.517, respectively. The results showed that the model built by samples passed through 40-mesh screen was the best and rapid detection of volatile oil content in zanthoxylum bungeagum by NIR was feasible and efficient.