Characterization, Large-Scale HSCCC Separation and Neuroprotective Effects of Polyphenols from Moringa oleifera Leaves.

Moringa oleifera leaves have been widely used for the treatment of inflammation, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other diseases, due to being rich in polyphenols. The main objective of this work was to largely separate the main polyphenols from Moringa oleifera leaves using the technique of high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC). The phenolic composition in Moringa oleifera leaves was first analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap/MS and UPLC-QqQ/MS, respectively, indicating that quercetin and kaempferol derivatives, phenolic acid and apigenin are the main polyphenols in Moringa oleifera leaves, with quercetin and kaempferol derivatives predominating. Furthermore, the conditions of HSCCC for large-scale separation of polyphenols from Moringa oleifera leaves were optimized, which included the selection of the solvent system, flow rate and the sample load. Only by one-step HSCCC separation (within 120 min) under the optimized conditions, six quercetin and kaempferol derivatives, a phenolic acid and an apigenin could be individually isolated at a large scale (yield from 10% to 98%), each of which possessed high purity. Finally, the isolated polyphenols and phenolic extract from Moringa oleifera leaves (MLPE) were verified to have strong neuroprotective activities against H2O2-induced oxidative stress in PC-12 cells, suggesting that these compounds would contribute to the main beneficial effects of Moringa oleifera leaves.

Bevacizumab for non-small cell lung cancer patients with brain metastasis: A meta-analysis.

This study evaluates the efficacy and safety of bevacizumab (BEV) in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with brain metastases (BM) by performing meta-analyses of response and survival indices. Seventeen studies were included. BEV treatment was associated with a lower new BM incidence (hazard ratio: 0.30 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.14, 0.46]) during follow-up. Disease control rate (DCR) of BEV-treated patients with BM was 91% [95% CI: 85, 95]. However, intracranial DCR was relatively higher (94% [95% CI: 87, 98]) than extracranial DCR (86% [95% CI: 74, 96]). DCR of NSCLC patients with BM was significantly better with BEV than with control therapies (odds ratio: 2.71 [95% CI: 1.26, 5.86], P = 0.01). Progression-free survival (PFS) of BEV-treated patients with and without BM was 7.1 months [95% CI: 6.2, 8.0] and 7.4 months [95% CI: 6.3, 8.4], respectively. Intracranial PFS of BEV-treated patients with BM was 8.0 months [95% CI: 6.0, 10.0]. Overall survival of BEV-treated NSCLC patients with and without BM was 13.5 months [95% CI: 11.4, 15.6] and 12.5 months [95% CI: 10.2, 14.8], respectively. The incidence of bleeding/hemorrhage in the central nervous system was 1% with BEV treatment.

Effect of tannin addition on chromatic characteristics, sensory qualities and antioxidant activities of red wines.

Tannin addition as an enological practice has been widely used in the winemaking process because of their ability of improving the aroma and sensory characteristics and stabilizing of color of red wine. In this study, hydrolysable, condensed tannins and their mixtures in different ratios were added into two Merlot wines to investigate their effect on the wine overall quality. The contents of 15 phenolic compounds were detected by HPLC-DAD, CIELAB color parameters were measured using a chromatic aberration meter, sensory evaluation was accomplished using the assessment standards established by the American Wine Association, and antioxidant activities were analyzed using DPPH and ABTS radical tests. The results indicated that adding tannins affected phenolic composition, contents and color of wine. The specific effects varied by tannins. Furthermore, tannin addition, especially the mixed tannins, improved the sensory qualities and antioxidant activities greatly. The mixed tannins added with a ratio of 1 : 1 between hydrolyzable and condensed tannins exhibited a better effect on both sensory qualities and antioxidant activities, and it could be recommended as an ideal tannin addition for wine quality improvement.

A semisynthetic approach for the simultaneous reaction of grape seed polymeric procyanidins with catechin and epicatechin to obtain oligomeric procyanidins in large scale.

Polymeric procyanidins (PPCs) were the major constituents of procyanidins, while they have poor bioactivity. To better utilize PPCs, a semisynthetic approach for converting PPCs to oligomeric procyanidins (OPCs) was proposed. Grape seed PPCs were simultaneously reacted with catechin (C) and epicatechin (EC) under acid condition. Combining response surface methodology (RSM) and single-factor experiments, an optimized semisynthetic condition was confirmed with the ratio of PPCs with C and EC of 1:1:1, temperature of 40 °C, reaction time of 20 min and 0.1 M methanolic HCl. High-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC) was adopted to obtain three fractions from semisynthetic products and preparative-HPLC was used to isolate individual procyanidins. Thirteen B-type procyanidins including monomers, dimers and trimers were got with high yield of 0.8-17.8 mg from 200 mg semisynthetic products and high purity over 91%. The developed semisynthesis combined with separation method was efficient to obtain individual OPCs in preparative scale.

Protective Effect of Grape Seed Procyanidins against H2 O2 -Induced Oxidative Stress in PC-12 Neuroblastoma Cells: Structure-Activity Relationships.

To establish a structure-activity relationship for procyanidins, we verified the cyto-protective effect of 13 grape seed procyanidins, ranging from monomers to trimers against H2 O2 -induced oxidative stress in PC-12 neuroblastoma cells. Our study demonstrated some procyanidins were able to significantly protect PC-12 cells from the H2 O2 -induced cytotoxicity suggesting they possess neuroprotective effects against oxidative stress. Procyanidins' protective effects against oxidative stress mainly depended on their polymerization degree in addition to their structural features. A positive correlation was found between procyanidins' polymerization degree and the protective effect against oxidative stress in PC-12 cells. The presence of 3- or 3'-galloylated groups in the C-ring of procyanidin molecules significantly increased their protective activity as well. These results demonstrated that galloylated high-molecular-mass procyanidins would be of more interesting as promising antioxidant natural compounds. This work for the first time demonstrated the structure-activity relationships of 13 procyanidins' antioxidative stress activity, which could have a significant impact on future development of procyanidins for healthy food products or drugs to treat disease such as neurodegenerative disorders. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: This work evaluated the protective effect of procyanidins against oxidative stress in PC-12 neuroblastoma cells and established their activity-structure relationships, which provides useful cellular evidence for the further investigating the structure-optimizing and function-exploiting of procyanidins.

An approach for degradation of grape seed and skin proanthocyanidin polymers into oligomers by sulphurous acid.

To develop an efficient method for degradation of grape seed and skin proanthocyanidins polymers into oligomers, an optimized sulphurous acid degradation conditions for grape seed with the temperature of 60 °C, reaction time of 60 min and sample-sulphurous acid ratio of 1:0.2, and for grape skin with the temperature of 40 °C, reaction time of 60 min and sample-sulphurous acid ratio of 1:0.2, were established. Afterwards, HSCCC and prep-HPLC were used to fractionate and isolate individual proanthocyanidin oligomers from the degradation products. Total of ten dimeric or trimeric procyanidins were obtained, and most of them presented high yield (from 0.7 mg to 13.6 mg per run in grape seed and from 0.5 mg to 4.1 mg per run in grape skin) and high purity (over 90%). The proposed method provides a new way for large preparation of oligomeric proanthocyanidins from naturally abundant and wasted polymeric ones.

A demonstration of biofiltration for VOC removal in petrochemical industries.

A biotrickling filter demo has been set up in a petrochemical factory in Sinopec Group for about 10 months with a maximum inlet gas flow rate of 3000 m3 h(-1). The purpose of this project is to assess the ability of the biotrickling filter to remove hardly biodegradable VOCs such as benzene, toluene and xylene which are recalcitrant and poorly water soluble and commonly found in petrochemical factories. Light-weight hollow ceramic balls (Φ 5-8 cm) were used as the packing media treated with large amounts of circulating water (2.4 m3 m(-2) h(-1)) added with bacterial species. The controlled empty bed retention time (EBRT) of 240 s is a key parameter for reaching a removal efficiency of 95% for benzene, toluene, xylene, and 90% for total hydrocarbons. The demo has been successfully adopted and practically applied in waste air treatments in many petrochemical industries for about two years. The net inlet concentrations of benzene, toluene and xylene were varied from 0.5 to 3 g m(-3). The biofiltration process is highly efficient for the removal of hydrophobic and recalcitrant VOCs with various concentrations from the petrochemical factories. The SEM analysis of the bacterial community in the BTF during VOC removal showed that Pseudomonas putida and Klebsiella sp. phylum were dominant and shutdown periods could play a role in forming the community structural differences and leading to the changes of removal efficiencies.