High Internal Phase Emulsions Stabilized with Ultrasound-Modified Spirulina Protein for Curcumin Delivery.

Spirulina protein (SP) is recognized as a nutritious edible microbial protein and holds potential as a natural emulsifier. Due to the inherent challenges SP faces in stabilizing high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs), ultrasonic techniques were utilized for modification. Noticeable alterations in the structural and functional properties of SP were observed following ultrasonic treatment at various power levels (0, 100, 300, and 500 W). Ultrasound treatment disrupted non-covalent interactions within the protein polymer structure, leading to the unfolding of molecular structures and the exposure of hydrophobic groups. Importantly, the particle size of SP was reduced the most at an ultrasonic power of 300 W, and the three-phase contact angle reached its peak at 84.3°. The HIPEs stabilized by SP modified with 300 W ultrasonication have high apparent viscosity and modulus values and strong storage stability under different environmental conditions. Additionally, the encapsulation of curcumin in HIPEs led to improved retention of curcumin across various settings. The bioavailability increased to 35.36, which is 2.8 times higher than the pure oil. These findings suggest that ultrasound-modified SP is a promising emulsifier for HIPEs, and is expected to encapsulate hydrophobic nutrients such as curcumin more effectively.

Glycogen-based pH and redox sensitive nanoparticles with ginsenoside Rh2 for effective treatment of ulcerative colitis.

The purpose of this study is to construct a pH and redox sensitive nanoparticle to effectively deliver ginsenoside Rh2 for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). Herein, glycogen was modified by urocanic acid and α-lipoic acid (α-LA) to obtain an amphiphilic polymer (LA-UaGly). Such polymer LA-UaGly could self-assemble to form nanoparticles (Blank NPs) in water with excellent stability, which could also successfully encapsulated ginsenoside Rh2 to form Rh2 nanoparticles (Rh2 NPs) with encapsulation efficiency of 74.36 ± 0.34%. DLS analysis indicated Rh2 NPs were spherical with a particle size of 128.9 ± 0.3 nm. As expected, Rh2 NPs exhibited typical pH and redox dual response release behaviour as well as the excellent in vivo safety. In vitro tests showed that Rh2 NPs could effectively internalize and release Rh2 into RAW264.7 cells, and protect cells from apoptosis (p < 0.05). More interestingly, Rh2 NPs exhibited strong anti-inflammatory activity via significantly inhibiting the overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) and inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6) (p < 0.05). In vivo experiments suggested that Rh2 NPs significantly ameliorated the weight loss, colon length, disease activity index (DAI) score, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in mice caused by dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) (p < 0.05). Simultaneously, pathological analysis proved that Rh2 NPs could significantly reduce histological damage and inflammatory infiltration in mice. Rh2 NPs could also effectively regulate the intestinal flora of mice by improving the species uniformity and abundance of the intestinal flora of mice and restoring the species diversity of the intestinal flora. In addition, both in vivo and in vitro experiments proved that Rh2 NPs had stronger anti-inflammatory activity than Rh2. This study provides a promising strategy for the effective treatment of UC.

Structural characterization and antioxidant activity of an acetylated Cyclocarya paliurus polysaccharide (Ac-CPP0.1).

The aim of this study was to investigate the primary structure of an acetylated Cyclocarya paliurus polysaccharide (Ac-CPP0.1) and its protective effect on H2O2-treated dendritic cells. The backbone of Ac-CPP0.1 was →3)-ß-D-Galp-(1→, with some branches α-L-Araf-(1→ residues at O-6 and O-5, ß-D-Galp-(1→ and 3,5,6)-ß-D-Galf-(1 residues at O-4 and acetyl groups were substituted at the O-2 and O-6 positions of 3)-ß-D-Galp-(1 residues. The CPP0.1 and Ac-CPP0.1 significantly increased the levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase on H2O2-treated dendritic cells. Meanwhile, both CPP0.1 and Ac-CPP0.1 up-regulated the expression of Nrf2 (NF-E2-related factor 2) and down-regulated the Keap1 (Kelch-like ECH-associated protein-1), but Ac-CPP0.1 had a better effect on antioxidant capacity. These results indicated that potential application of Ac-CPP0.1 as an antioxidant agent.

Sulfated modification, characterization, immunomodulatory activities and mechanism of the polysaccharides from Cyclocarya paliurus on dendritic cells.

In this study, a crude and purified polysaccharide from Cyclocarya paliurus (CPP, CPP0.05) were performed with chlorosulfonic acid-pyridine (CSA-Pyr) method to obtain sulfated derivatives (S-CPP, S-CPP0.05). After comparatively investigating, characterization results showed that the modifications were successful. Polysaccharides were used to culture mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs) to evaluate their immunomodulatory activity and explore mechanism. The functional activity of CPP was significantly stronger than that of the purified polysaccharide CPP0.05. Meanwhile, S-CPP showed stronger immunomodulatory activity than CPP through determination of cytokine expression levels. We found that p-JNK, p-p38MAPK and NF-κB p65 proteins were significantly increased by stimulus of CPP and S-CPP, blocking TLR2/4 could significantly decreased proteins above which proved that immune regulation effect of CPP and S-CPP on DCs was performed via MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways by triggering TLR2/4. S-CPP could serve as potential immunomodulatory agents used as complementary medicine or functional foods.

Effects of polysaccharides from Yingshan Yunwu tea on meat quality, immune status and intestinal microflora in chickens.

The present study was aimed to investigate the effects of the addition of Yingshan Yunwu green tea polysaccharide conjugates (GTPC) on meat quality, immune response and gut microflora in chickens. A total of 200 chickens with average initial body weight were randomly allotted to 4 groups. Intestinal samples were collected at the end of experiment for bacterial culture and microbial community analysis by 16S rDNA gene sequencing using Illumina MiSeq. Chicken breast muscle and serum were also sampled for analysis of meat quality and immune function. The results showed that dietary GTPC addition increased (P < 0.05) chicken breast muscle pH and redness-greenness (a*) value and decreased (P < 0.05) the values of lightness (L*), yellowness-blueness (b*), hardness, toughness and adhesiveness. In addition, dietary supplementation of GTPC increased (P < 0.05) the weight of thymus and bursa and serum concentrations of IgA and IgG. Furthermore, of the 10 bacterial phyla, the predominant taxa across all sampling time-points were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Deferribacteres, representing >97% of all sequences. GTPC increased the abundance of Bacteroidetes and Lactobacillus, and decreased the abundance of Proteobacteria. These findings provided some references of the application of GTPC in the poultry industry.

Structure analysis of polysaccharides purified from Cyclocarya paliurus with DEAE-Cellulose and its antioxidant activity in RAW264.7 cells.

CPP was isolated from Cyclocarya paliurus (C. paliurus) and CPP-D was purified from CPP with a further step by DEAE-Cellulose. In this study, the structure and antioxidant activities of these two polysaccharides were investigated. The molecular weight of CPP was determined as 1.15 × 105 Da and the monosaccharides of it were Rha, Ara, Xyl, Man, Glc, Gal in a molar ratio of 0.021:0.237:0.020:0.036:0.454:0.231, while the molecular weight of CPP-D was 9.1 × 103 Da and the monosaccharides of it were Man, Glc, Gal in a molar ratio of 0.235:0.677:0.088. CPP-D consisted of three structural residues →4)-ß-D-Glc-(1→, →2,6)-ß-D-Man-(1→ and →4)-ß-D-Gal. These structures were characterized by SEM, FT-IR, GC-MS, HPGPC, and NMR. The antioxidant assay in RAW264.7 cell showed that both CPP and CPP-D promoted cell viability and antioxidant activity, which decreased the content of MDA and increased the activity of SOD, T-AOC, CAT (P < .05). As a result, CPP-D isolated by DEAE-Cellulose didn't reduce the antioxidant activity of C. paliurus polysaccharide and could enhance the cell viability.

The structural characteristics, antioxidant and hepatoprotection activities of polysaccharides from Chimonanthus nitens Oliv. leaves.

This work aimed to investigate the structural characteristics, antioxidant activities and hepatoprotection effect of Chimonanthus nitens Oliv. leaves polysaccharides (COP) on alcohol-induced oxidative damage in mice. Physical and chemical analysis showed that COP contained four monosaccharides including arabinose (Ara), mannose (Man), glucose (Glu) and galactose (Gal), with mass percentages of 26.6%, 5.1%, 32.2% and 36.0%, respectively, which was a heteropolysaccharide with both α- and ß- configurations. In vivo experiments indicated that oral administration COP significantly reduced the levels of ALT, AST and MDA in serum, and significantly increased the activity of SOD and GSH-Px. Mice pretreated with COP had a higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in liver and lower content of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1ß in the liver and serum when compared with alcohol exposure. In addition, the liver histopathological changes induced by alcohol returned to normal in the COP pretreatment group. These results suggest that COP has a protective effect on acute liver injury induced by alcohol.

Antibacterial mechanism of the synergistic combination between streptomycin and alcohol extracts from the Chimonanthus salicifolius S. Y. Hu. leaves.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Chimonanthus salicifolius S. Y. Hu. Is a unique traditional medicinal plant in ancient China, and it can eliminate turbid pathogens with aromatics, clear heat, detoxify, prevent colds and influenza, Xinhua Compendium of Materia Medica records that. AIM OF THE STUDY: In previous study, we investigated the regulation of ethanol extracts (EEs) from C. salicifolius S. Y. Hu. leaves on three common antibiotics (chloramphenicol, streptomycin, imipenem) by the checkerboard method. The combination exhibited the best synergy among all combinations, which were composed of streptomycin and 50% EE (SE) from the C. salicifolius S. Y. Hu. leaves. The aim of this study was to investigate the antibacterial mechanism of the SE against Escherichia coli (E. coli, G-) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, G+). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The antibacterial mechanism of the SE was explored by the time-kill test, the phosphorus metabolism, cell membrane integrity assays, the SDS-PAGE, the SEM and TEM observation. RESULTS: The time-kill test illustrated that the SE was bacteriostatic with a time-dependent relationship, not sterilization. The phosphorus metabolism indicated that the SE lowered phosphorus consumption. The cell membrane integrity assays demonstrated that the cell membrane was damaged, with the nucleic acid flowing out. The SDS-PAGE analysis found that the SE inhibited the synthesis of the total protein. The SEM and TEM results revealed that the surface and internal ultrastructure of bacteria were damaged. The surface of the bacteria was shriveled and deformed, and the internal structure of the cells was also mutilated. CONCLUSIONS: The SE damaged the cell membrane, with the cytoplasm flowing out, disturbed the synthesis of total protein and phosphorus metabolism, and ultimately killed the bacteria.

Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activities of Polysaccharides from Yingshan Cloud Mist Tea.

The study was designed to investigate the chemical composition and antioxidant activities of polysaccharides from Yingshan Cloud Mist Tea. The chemical composition of green tea polysaccharides (GTPS) was analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric (TGA), gas chromatograph (GC), and high-performance gel-permeation chromatography (HPGPC). Then, the antioxidant activities in vitro of GTPS, effects of GTPS on body weight, and the antioxidant activities in chickens were studied. The results showed that GTPS were composed of rhamnose (Rha), arabinose (Ara), xylose (Xyl), mannose (Man), glucose (Glu), and galactose (Gal) in a molar ratio of 11.4 : 26.1 : 1.9 : 3.0 : 30.7 : 26.8 and the average molecular weight was 9.69 × 104 Da. Furthermore, GTPS exhibited obvious capacity of scavenging DPPH radical, hydroxyl radical, and superoxide radical and enhanced the ferric-reducing power in vitro. Last, GTPS significantly increased the body weight of chickens, enhanced the T-AOC, SOD, and GSH-Px level, and decreased the content of MDA in chickens. The results indicated that GTPS might be a kind of natural antioxidant, which had the potential application in feed industry.