Exploring the Biochemical and Nutra-Pharmaceutical Prospects of Some Thymus Species - A Review.

The Thymus genus includes various medicinal and aromatic species, cultivated worldwide for their unique medicinal and economic value. Besides, their conventional use as a culinary flavoring agent, Thymus species are well-known for their diverse biological effects, such as antioxidant, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-hypertensive properties. Hence, they are used in the treatment of fever, colds, and digestive and cardiovascular diseases. The pharmaceutical significance of Thymus plants is due to their high levels of bioactive components such as natural terpenoid phenol derivatives (p-cymene, carvacrol, thymol, geraniol), flavonoids, alkaloids, and phenolic acids. This review examines the phytochemicals, biological properties, functional food, and nutraceutical attributes of some important Thymus species, with a specific focus on their potential uses in the nutra-pharmaceutical industries. Furthermore, the review provides an insight into the mechanisms of biological activities of key phytochemicals of Thymus species exploring their potential for the development of novel natural drugs.

Whey proteins as multifunctional food materials: Recent advancements in hydrolysis, separation, and peptidomimetic approaches.

Whey protein derived bioactives, including α-lactalbumin, ß-lactoglobulin, bovine serum albumin, lactoferrin, transferrin, and proteose-peptones, have exhibited wide ranges of functional, biological and therapeutic properties varying from anticancer, antihypertensive, and antimicrobial effects. In addition, their functional properties involve gelling, emulsifying, and foaming abilities. For these reasons, this review article is framed to understand the relationship existed in between those compound levels and structures with their main functional, biological, and therapeutic properties exhibited either in vitro or in vivo. The impacts of hydrolysis mechanism and separation techniques in enhancing those properties are likewise discussed. Furthermore, special emphasize is given to multifunctional effects of whey derived bioactives and their future trends in ameliorating further food, pharmaceutical, and nutraceutical products. The underlying mechanism effects of those properties are still remained unclear in terms of activity levels, efficacy, and targeted effectiveness. For these reasons, some important models linking to functional properties, thermal properties and cell circumstances are established. Moreover, the coexistence of radical trapping groups, chelating groups, sulfhydryl groups, inhibitory groups, and peptide bonds seemed to be the key elements in triggering those functions and properties. Practical Application: Whey proteins are the byproducts of cheese processing and usually the exploitation of these food waste products has increasingly getting acceptance in many countries, especially European countries. Whey proteins share comparable nutritive values to milk products, particularly on their richness on important proteins that can serve immune protection, structural, and energetic roles. The nutritive profile of whey proteins shows diverse type of bioactive molecules like α-lactalbumin, ß-lactoglobulin, lactoferrin, transferrin, immunoglobulin, and proteose peptones with wide biological importance to the living system, such as in maintaining immunological, neuronal, and signaling roles. The diversification of proteins of whey products prompted scientists to exploit the real mechanisms behind of their biological and therapeutic effects, especially in declining the risk of cancer, tumor, and further complications like diabetes type 2 and hypertension risk effects. For these reasons, profiling these types of proteins using different proteomic and peptidomic approaches helps in determining their biological and therapeutic targets along with their release into gastrointestinal tract conditions and their bioavailabilities into portal circulation, tissue, and organs. The wide applicability of those protein fractions and their derivative bioactive products showed significant impacts in the field of emulsion and double emulsion stabilization by playing roles as emulsifying, surfactant, stabilizing, and foaming agents. Their amphoteric properties helped them to act as excellent encapsulating agents, particularly as vehicle for delivering important vitamins and bioactive compounds. The presence of ferric elements increased their transportation to several metal-ions in the same time increased their scavenging effects to metal-transition and peroxidation of lipids. Their richness with almost essential and nonessential amino acids makes them as selective microbial starters, in addition their richness in sulfhydryl amino acids allowed them to act a cross-linker in conjugating further biomolecules. For instance, conjugating gold-nanoparticles and fluorescent materials in targeting diseases like cancer and tumors in vivo is considered the cutting-edges strategies for these versatile molecules due to their active diffusion across-cell membrane and the presence of specific transporters to these therapeutic molecules.

The underlying mechanism of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA damages in triggering cancer incidences: Insights into proteomic and genomic sciences.

The attempt of this review article is to determine the impact of nuclear and mitochondrial damages on the propagation of cancer incidences. This review has advanced our understanding to altered genes and their relevant cancerous proteins. The progressive raising effects of free reactive oxygen species ROS and toxicogenic compounds contributed to significant mutation in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA where the incidence of gastric cancer is found to be linked with down regulation of some relevant genes and mutation in some important cellular proteins such as AMP-18 and CA-11. Thereby, the resulting changes in gene mutations induced the apparition of newly polymorphisms eventually leading to unusual cellular expression to mutant proteins. Reduction of these apoptotic growth factors and nuclear damages is increasingly accepted by cell reactivation effect, enhanced cellular signaling and DNA repairs. Acetylation, glycation, pegylation and phosphorylation are among the molecular techniques used in DNA repair for rectifying mutation incidences. In addition, the molecular labeling based fluorescent materials are currently used along with the bioconjugating of signal molecules in targeting disease translocation site, particularly cancers and tumors. These strategies would help in determining relevant compounds capable in overcoming problems of down regulating genes responsible for repair mechanisms. These issues of course need interplay of both proteomic and genomic studies often in combination of molecular engineering to cible the exact expressed gene relevant to these cancerous proteins.

Production of glycerolamines based conjugated γ-aminobutyric acids using microbial COX and LOX as successor enzymes to GAD.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (γ-ABA) can be produced by various microorganisms including bacteria, fungi and yeasts using enzymatic bioconversion, microbial fermentation or chemical hydrolysis. Regenerating conjugated glycerol-amines is valid by the intervention of microbial cyclooxygenase [COX] and lipooxygenase [LOX] enzymes produced via lactobacillus bacteria (LAB) as successor enzymes to glutamate decarboxylases (GAD). Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide an overview on γ-ABA production, and microbiological achievements used in producing this signal molecule based on those fermenting enzymes. The formation of aminoglycerides based conjugated γ-ABA is considered the key substances in controlling the host defense against pathogens and is aimed in increasing the neurotransmission effects and in suppressing further cardiovascular diseases.

Mitigation of antinutritional factors and protease inhibitors of defatted winged bean-seed proteins using thermal and hydrothermal treatments: Denaturation/unfolding coupled hydrolysis mechanism.

The inactivation of antinutritional factors, protease inhibitors within winged bean protein was induced by two respective method treatments. The physical method based on steam vapor that was conducted using an autoclave and chemical method consisting on pH-gradients of buffer solutions prepared at respective acidic pH, neutral pH and alkaline pH ranges. The activity of remaining protease inhibitors of bowman birk inhibitor (BBI), and kunitz-trypsin inhibitor (KTI) after and before treatments was enzymatically confirmed using relevant antagonistic trypsin and combined trypsin-α-chymotrypsin digests. The resulting molecular assembly indicating an interval molecular relaxation range of °0.16 < °DA < °0.2 corresponding to reconformation in protein units with volume-mass changes of -2.17 < ∂v' < +2.17 and with denaturation/unfolding efficiency based on heat capacity ΔCp of 36.36 < DE/UF% < 54.67. These structural changes had a great benefit in determining and producing functional protein hydrolysates.

Gluten proteins: Enzymatic modification, functional and therapeutic properties.

Glutens are potential proteins with multifunctional therapeutic effects. Their covalence network structures with and without protease inhibitors are expected to enhance or to serve further properties and further technological points such as increased bioactive surfaces, gelatinization, gelation and pasting properties. The depletion of the allergic peptide sequences of gluten proteins comprising sometimes protease inhibitors are valid via the enzymatic ingestion using proteolytic enzymes that might enhance these functional and technological processes by producing active peptides having osmoregulation and regular glass transitions, surface activity for coating and encapsulation properties. In addition to further therapeutic functions such as immunoregulatory, antithrombin and opioidal activities, particularly in eradicating most of the free radicals, suppressing diabetes Mellitus II complications and inhibiting angiotensin converting enzyme cardiovascular growth diseases.

The structural reconformation of peptides in enhancing functional and therapeutic properties: Insights into their solid state crystallizations.

Therapeutic peptides derived proteins with alpha-reconformation states like antibody shape have shown potential effects in combating terrible diseases linked with earlier signs of angiogensis, mutagenesis and transgenesis. Alpha reconformation in material design refers to the folding of the peptide chains and their transitions under reversible chemical bonds of disulfide chemical bridges and further non-covalence lesions. Thus, the rational design of signal peptides into alpha-helix is intended in increasing the defending effects of peptides into cores like adjuvant antibiotic and/or vaccines. Thereby, the signal peptides are able in displaying multiple eradicating regions by changing crystal-depositions and deviation angles. These types of molecular structures could have multiple advantages in tracing disease syndromes and impurities by increasing the host defense against the fates of pathogens and viruses, eventually leading to the loss in signaling by increasing peptide susceptibility levels to folding and unfolding and therefore, formation of transgenic peptide models. Alpha reconformation peptides is aimed in triggering as well as other regulatory functions such as remodulating metabolic chain disorders of lipolysis and glucolysis by increasing the insulin and leptin resistance for best lipid storages and lipoprotein density distributions.

Smart electrical bi-layers lipopeptides: Novel peptidic chains like zigzag map esterified with phospho-glyceride as mono-layer moieties capable in forming a meso-sphere- envelop with scaffold- ability to cellular impurities.

Cell impurities are an emerging nucleating molecular barriers having the capability in disordering the metabolic chain reactions of proteolysis, glycolysis and lipolysis. Their massive effects induced by copolymer crystal growth in compaction with metal and mineral transients are extended as well as in damaging DNA and mRNA structure motif and other molecular assembly e.g. histones structure unites. Their polycrystalline packing modes, polydispersity and their tendency to surface and interface adhesion prompted us in structuring scaffold biomaterials enriched with biopeptides, layered by phospho-glycerides ester-forms. The interface tension of the formed map is flexible and dependent to the surface exposure and its collapse modes to the surrounding molecular ligands. Thus, the attempts in increasing surface exposure e.g. the viscoelastic of structured lipopeptides and types of formed network structures interplays an extra- conjugating biomolecules having a least cytotoxicity effects to cells constituents. Disulfides molecules are selected to be the key regulatory element in rejoining both lipidic and proteic moieties by disordering atoms status via chemical ionization using organic catalyst. The insertion of methionine based peptidic chain at the lateral surfaces of scaffold biomaterials enhances the electron-meta-static motions by raising a molecular disordering status at distinct regions of the map e.g. epimerization into a nonpolar side that helps the chemical conjunction of disulfide groups with the esterified phosphoglycerides mono-layers. These effects in turn are accomplished by the formation of meso-sphere nonpolar- vesicles. The oxidation of disulfide group would alter the ordering of initial molecules by raising a newly molecular disorders to the map with high polarity to surface regions. In the same time indicates a continuation in the crystallization growth factor via a low chemical lesions between the impurities and a supersaturation in the intra-atomic distances with maximum cross linking to the deformed ligand with scaffold biomaterials.

Recent advances in food biopeptides: production, biological functionalities and therapeutic applications.

The growing momentum of several common life-style diseases such as myocardial infarction, cardiovascular disorders, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and atherosclerosis has become a serious global concern. Recent developments in the field of proteomics offering promising solutions to solving such health problems stimulates the uses of biopeptides as one of the therapeutic agents to alleviate disease-related risk factors. Functional peptides are typically produced from protein via enzymatic hydrolysis under in vitro or in vivo conditions using different kinds of proteolytic enzymes. An array of biological activities, including antioxidative, antihypertensive, antidiabetic and immunomodulating has been ascribed to different types of biopeptides derived from various food sources. In fact, biopeptides are nutritionally and functionally important for regulating some physiological functions in the body; however, these are yet to be extensively addressed with regard to their production through advance strategies, mechanisms of action and multiple biological functionalities. This review mainly focuses on recent biotechnological advances that are being made in the field of production in addition to covering the mode of action and biological activities, medicinal health functions and therapeutic applications of biopeptides. State-of-the-art strategies that can ameliorate the efficacy, bioavailability, and functionality of biopeptides along with their future prospects are likewise discussed.

Multivariate statistical analysis treatment of DSC thermal properties for animal fat adulteration.

The adulteration of edible fats is a kind of fraud that impairs the physical and chemical features of the original lipid materials. It has been detected in various food, pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical products. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is the robust thermo-analytical machine that permits to fingerprint the primary crystallisation of triacylglycerols (TAGs) molecules and their transition behaviours. The aims of this study was to assess the cross-contamination caused by lard concentration of 0.5-5% in the mixture systems containing beef tallow (BT) and chicken fat (CF) separately. TAGs species of pure and adulterated lipids in relation to their crystallisation and melting parameters were studied using principal components analysis (PCA). The results showed that by using the heating profiles the discrimination of LD from BT and CF was very clear even at low dose of less than 1%. Same observation was depicted from the crystallisation profiles of BT adulterated by LD doses ranging from 0.1% to 1% and from 2% to 5%, respectively. Furthermore, CF adulterated with LD did not exhibit clear changes on its crystallisation profiles. Consequently, DSC coupled with PCA is one of the techniques that might use to monitor and differentiate the minimum adulteration levels caused by LD in different animal fats.

Application of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), HPLC and pNMR for interpretation primary crystallisation caused by combined low and high melting TAGs.

The main goal of the present work was to assess the mechanism of crystallisation, more precisely the dominant component responsible for primary crystal formations and fat agglomerations. Therefore, DSC results exhibited significant effect on temperature transition; peak sharpness and enthalpy at palm stearin (PS) levels more than 40wt.%. HPLC data demonstrated slight reduction in the content of POO/OPO at PS levels less than 40wt.%, while the excessive addition of PS more than 40wt.% increased significantly PPO/POP content. The pNMR results showed significant drop in SFC for blends containing PS less than 40wt.%, resulting in low SFC less than 15% at body temperature (37°C). Moreover, the values of viscosity (η) and shear stress (τ) at PS levels over 40wt.% expressed excellent internal friction of the admixtures. All the data reported indicate that PPO/POP was the major component of primary nucleus developed. In part, the levels of PS should be less than 40wt.%, if these blends are designed to be used for margarine production.