Botanical characteristics, phytochemistry and related biological activities of Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit, and its potential use in functional foods: a review.

Due to the growing global population, reduction in arable land and effects of climate change, incongruity between food supply and demand has become increasingly severe. Nowadays, with awareness of the elementary nutrients required for human growth, increasing attention is being paid to the health and medical functions of food. Along with increased food production achieved by modern agricultural techniques, underutilised functional foods are an important strategy for solving food security problems and maintaining the nutritional quality of the human diet. Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) is a natural fruit that contains unique functional and nutritional constituents, which are characterised by a high anti-oxidant potential. This review summarises the biological characteristics, chemical composition, health-promoting properties and development status of RRT products to inspire investigations on the use of RRT fruit as a functional food, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical additive. The nutrients and functional ingredients of RRT fruit are described in detail to provide more reference information for nutritionists and pharmacists.

Development of fermented chestnut with Bacillus natto: Functional and sensory properties.

Food fermentation can improve food nutritional value and sensory performance, it is considered as an ecofriendly bioprocessing technology. In this work, a fermented natto chestnut food was firstly developed and its active ingredients and functional properties were systematically studied. Through systematic experimental screening, including a single factor experiment and Box-Behnken design, the fermentation parameters of chestnut were optimized and selected. Under the optimal fermentation conditions, fermentation time 56 h, temperature 38 â„ƒ and 5% inoculum concentration, the fibrinolytic activity of the natto-chestnut reached 6479 IU/g. Meanwhile, higher antioxidant activity of the natto-chestnut was obtained due to the increased contents of total phenolic, total flavonoid and VC. In addition, α-glucosidase inhibition activity was also improved in the natto-chestnut. These results indicated that fermented chestnut could be a new dietary supplement with higher quality and better activities for people's health.

A simple and efficient sample preparation for taxanes in Taxus chinensis needles with natural menthol-based aqueous deep eutectic solvent.

Taxanes are natural anticancer constituents, and the sample preparation from matrix normally depends on organochlorine solvents. In this study, green and natural menthol-based aqueous deep eutectic solvent was synthesized and used for sample preparation for taxanes. Five key parameters were optimized and the optimal preparation conditions were as follows: menthol/1-propanol ratio 1:1 (mol/mol), solid-liquid ratio 1:30 g/mL, extraction time 30 min, ultrasonic power 250 W, and water content 80%. Under the above conditions, the total extraction efficiency of seven main taxanes was 1.25- to 1.44-fold to the conventional methods. In addition, a high-performance liquid chromatography method with C18 column was established for quantitation of seven main taxanes in <25 min, which had excellent linearity (R2  > 0.9986), precision (relative standard deviation < 3.00%), repeatability (relative standard deviation < 3.69%), and recovery (90.26-109.00%). This method performed the extraction, and enrichment processes simultaneously, and it had advantages such as high extraction efficiency, simple operation, low cost, and eco-friendliness. This work indicated that the natural menthol-based deep eutectic solvent aqueous could be an excellent alternative to the sample preparation from Taxus or other plants.

A sensitive and selective multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry method for simultaneous quantification of flavonol glycoside, terpene lactones, and biflavonoids in Ginkgo biloba leaves.

In this study, an efficient and sensitive UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS (MRM) analytical strategy was established firstly for simultaneous determination of 11 components, including 3 original flavonol glycoside, 4 terpene lactones and 4 biflavonoids in Ginkgo biloba leaves. The validated strategy exhibited proper linearity (R2 ≥0.99) in the range of 0.5-125 µg/mL, and intra and inter-day precision were lower than 4.09% and 4.80%, respectively. Limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were calculated, ranging from 0.2-4.6 ng/mL, with repeatability values between 1.98% and 4.48%. The average recoveries were all in the range of 98.45-106.67% with RSD (n = 3) for the related compounds. Subsequently, the proposed method was used for the analysis of Ginkgo biloba leaves during leaf senescence. Results showed the dominant flavonol glycosides were kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside and isorhamnetin-3-O-rutinoside, the level of terpene lactones and biflavonoids reached the highest in the latest harvest samples. Compared with conventional detection method, the present method could directly analyze original flavonol glycoside without acid hydrolysis process and terpene lactones without the ELSD in a high sensitivity. Moreover, the biflavonoids in Ginkgo biloba leaves were also simultaneously quantified. The results demonstrated that the developed method was accurate, sensitive and reliable for simultaneous quantification of multi-components in Ginkgo biloba leaves, and this study should be significant for the comprehensive utilization and development of Ginkgo biloba resources.

Effect of endothelial PAS domain protein 1 and hypoxia inducible factor 1alpha on vascular endothelial growth factor expression in human pancreatic carcinoma / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Transcription factors hypoxia inducible factor 1alpha (HIF 1alpha) and endothelial PAS domain protein 1 (EPAS1) promote the transcription of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). VEGF enhances angiogenesis and vascular permeability of tumours, which promotes tumour growth and facilitates entry of cancer cells into blood circulation and metastasizing. This study examined whether HIF 1alpha and EPAS1 stimulated angiogenesis through activation of VEGF in human pancreatic carcinoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Specimens from pancreatic carcinoma and healthy parts of same pancreas were taken from 60 patients. Real time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction estimated expression of HIF 1alpha, EPAS1, and VEGF mRNAs. Western blotting and immunohistochemical, streptavidin peroxidase method assessed expression of HIF 1alpha, EPAS1, and VEGF proteins. Microvessel density (MVD) was assessed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Highly significant increases in expression of EPAS1, VEGF, and MVD were found in pancreatic carcinoma tissue but not in normal pancreatic tissue: VEGF at mRNA and protein levels (t = 17.32, P = 0.0001; t = 98.41, P = 0.0001); EPAS1 protein level (t = 22.51, P = 0.0001). Expression of HIF 1alpha was similar in pancreatic carcinoma and normal pancreatic tissues at both mRNA and protein levels. Significant correlations were observed between EPAS1 and VEGF (r = 0.736, P = 0.0041), between VEGF and MVD (r = 0.858, P = 0.0001), and between EPAS1 and MVD (r = 0.641, P = 0.0003). No significant correlations were observed between HIF 1alpha and VEGF, or between HIF 1alpha and MVD. MVD and expression of EPAS1 and VEGF were significantly related with TNM staging, so was EPASI and VEGF with size of tumour.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>EPAS1 and VEGF, but not HIF1alpha, are overexpressed in pancreatic carcinoma. The expression of EPAS1 is correlated with that of VEGF and MVD. EPAS1 may be involved in the angiogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma by upregulating the expression of VEGF. Targeting EPAS1 may be a new method of antiangiogenic tumour therapy for pancreatic carcinoma.</p>