Yellow pigment from gardenia fruit: structural identification and evaluation of cytotoxic activity in HepG2 cells by induction of apoptosis.

The preparation process of yellow pigment (YP) from gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides) fruit was investigated, and the main components of YP were characterized by liquid chromatography-time of flight-mass spectrometer/mass spectrometer (LC-TOF-MS/MS). Furthermore, cytotoxic activity in HepG2 cells by induction of apoptosis was also evaluated. The preparation results indicated that the color value of YP was 498.34, which was 8.6 times higher than crude YP. Fifteen compounds in YP were identified, and crocins were the predominant compounds. The cell experiment results showed that YP inhibited the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Moreover, YP also inhibited HepG2 cells in G2/M stage, increased the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and enhanced cell apoptosis. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed the up-regulation of caspase-3, 8, 9, and bax and down-regulation of bcl-2 in HepG2 cells. Overall, these findings suggested that YP had potential cytotoxic activity in HepG2 cells by induction of apoptosis, which might be beneficial to human health. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-022-01133-9.

Effect of various drying methods on the physicochemical characterizations, antioxidant activities and hypoglycemic activities of lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) pulp polysaccharides.

Suitable drying method is critical for the preservation of physicochemical and pharmacological quality of lychee pulp polysaccharides (LPPs). In current work, the effects of five drying methods, i.e. air drying (A), infrared drying (I), heat pump drying (H), vacuum freeze drying (F) and freeze vacuum drying combined with heat pump drying (FH) on the physicochemical characterizations, antioxidant activities and hypoglycemic activities of LPPs were explored. Results showed all five drying methods led to thermal aggregation of LPPs and the stronger the thermal effect induced by drying, the more serious the aggregations were. Additionally, the thermal aggregation significantly affected the composition, structure and biological activity of LPPs. Less thermal aggregation was observed in LPPF and LPPFH, which exhibited stronger oxygen, DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities, higher ferric-reducing power and better α-glycosidase and α-amylase inhibition activities, resulting from their higher contents of neutral sugar, protein and uronic acid and lower molecular weight than LPPA and LPPI. Besides, FH consumed about half drying time and one fifth energy of F. Therefore, from industrial perspective, FH is a promising alternative to F for producing LPPs by comprehensively considering physicochemical characterizations, bioactivity as well as energy consumption.

Using mathematical algorithms to modify glomerular filtration rate estimation equations.

BACKGROUND: The equations provide a rapid and low-cost method of evaluating glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Previous studies indicated that the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), Chronic Kidney Disease-Epidemiology (CKD-EPI) and MacIsaac equations need further modification for application in Chinese population. Thus, this study was designed to modify the three equations, and compare the diagnostic accuracy of the equations modified before and after. METHODOLOGY: With the use of (99 m)Tc-DTPA renal dynamic imaging as the reference GFR (rGFR), the MDRD, CKD-EPI and MacIsaac equations were modified by two mathematical algorithms: the hill-climbing and the simulated-annealing algorithms. RESULTS: A total of 703 Chinese subjects were recruited, with the average rGFR 77.14±25.93 ml/min. The entire modification process was based on a random sample of 80% of subjects in each GFR level as a training sample set, the rest of 20% of subjects as a validation sample set. After modification, the three equations performed significant improvement in slop, intercept, correlated coefficient, root mean square error (RMSE), total deviation index (TDI), and the proportion of estimated GFR (eGFR) within 10% and 30% deviation of rGFR (P10 and P30). Of the three modified equations, the modified CKD-EPI equation showed the best accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Mathematical algorithms could be a considerable tool to modify the GFR equations. Accuracy of all the three modified equations was significantly improved in which the modified CKD-EPI equation could be the optimal one.