Novel fused chromenes (4,7–11) and pyrimidines (12–16) were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their mammary gland breast cancer (MCF-7), human colon cancer (HCT-116), and liver cancer (HepG-2) activities. The structural identity of the synthesized compounds was established according to their spectroscopic analysis, such as FT-IR, NMR, and mass spectroscopy. The preliminary results of the bioassay disclosed that some of the target compounds were proven to have a significant antiproliferative effect against the three cell lines, as compared to Doxorubicin, Vinblastine, and Colchicine, used as reference drugs. Particularly, compounds 7 and 14 exerted promising anticancer activity towards all cell lines and were chosen for further studies, such as cell cycle analysis, cell apoptosis, caspase 3/7 activity, DNA fragmentation, cell invasion, and migration. We found that these potent cytotoxic compounds induced cell cycle arrest at the S and G2/M phases, prompting apoptosis. Furthermore, these compounds significantly inhibit the invasion and migration of the different tested cancer cells. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) survey highlights that the antitumor activity of the desired compounds was affected by the hydrophobic or hydrophilic nature of the substituent at different positions.

In this review, we discuss the advantages of vegetable sprouts in the development of food products as well as their beneficial effects on a variety of disorders. Sprouts are obtained from different types of plants and seeds and various types of leafy, root, and shoot vegetables. Vegetable sprouts are enriched in bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, antioxidants, and vitamins. Currently, different conventional methods and advanced technologies are used to extract bioactive compounds from vegetable sprouts. Due to some issues in traditional methods, increasingly, the trend is to use recent technologies because the results are better. Applications of phytonutrients extracted from sprouts are finding increased utility for food processing and shelf-life enhancement. Vegetable sprouts are being used in the preparation of different functional food products such as juices, bread, and biscuits. Previous research has shown that vegetable sprouts can help to fight a variety of chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Furthermore, in the future, more research is needed that explores the extraordinary ways in which vegetable sprouts can be incorporated into green-food processing and preservation for the purpose of enhancing shelf-life and the formation of functional meat products and substitutes.

Plant proteins can be an important alternative to animal proteins subject to minor modification to address sustainability issues. The impact of ultrasound application on the yield, techno-functional properties, and molecular characteristics of protein extracted from Moringa oleifera seeds was studied. For this purpose, a central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) parameters such as amplitude (25–75%), solute-to-solvent ratio (1:10–1:30), and pH (9–13) for obtaining the maximum protein yield. At the optimized conditions of 75% amplitude, 1:20 solute-to-solvent ratio, and 11 pH, a protein yield of 39.12% was obtained in the UAE process. Moreover, the best sonication time at optimized conditions was 20 min, which resulted in about 150% more extraction yield in comparison to conventional extraction (CE). The techno-functional properties, for instance, solubility, water (WHC)- and oil-holding capacity (OHC), and emulsifying and foaming properties of the protein obtained from UAE and CE were also compared. The functional properties revealed high solubility, good WHC and OHC, and improved emulsifying properties for protein obtained from UAE. Although protein from UAE provided higher foam formation, foaming stability was significantly lower.

The current review investigates the effects of black seed (Nigella sativa) on human health, which is also used to encapsulate and oxidative stable in different food products. In recent decades, many extraction methods, such as cold pressing, supercritical fluid extraction, Soxhlet extraction, hydro distillation (HD) method, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), ultrasound-assisted extraction, steam distillation, and accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) have been used to extract the oils from black seeds under optimal conditions. Black seed oil contains essential fatty acids, in which the major fatty acids are linoleic, oleic, and palmitic acids. The oxidative stability of black seed oil is very low, due to various environmental conditions or factors (temperature and light) affecting the stability. The oxidative stability of black seed oil has been increased by using encapsulation methods, including nanoprecipitation, ultra-sonication, spray-drying, nanoprecipitation, electrohydrodynamic, atomization, freeze-drying, a electrospray technique, and coaxial electrospraying. Black seed, oil, microcapsules, and their components have been used in various food processing, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetics industries as functional ingredients for multiple purposes. Black seed and oil contain thymoquinone as a major component, which has anti-oxidant, -diabetic, -inflammatory, -cancer, -viral, and -microbial properties, due to its phenolic compounds. Many clinical and experimental studies have indicated that the black seed and their by-products can be used to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, chronic cancer, diabetes, oxidative stress, polycystic ovary syndrome, metabolic disorders, hypertension, asthma, and skin disorders. In this review, we are focusing on black seed oil composition and increasing the stability using different encapsulation methods. It is used in various food products to increase the human nutrition and health properties.

Cyclophosphamide (CP) is commonly used as an anticancer agent but has been associated with high toxicity in several animal organs, including the testes. Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) is a polyphosphorylated carbohydrate that is present in foods with high fibre contents and has a wide range of essential physiological and pathological activities. Thus, we estimated the defensive effects of IP6 against CP-related testicular toxicity in rats. Sperm counts, motilities, viabilities and abnormalities and levels of testosterone, luteinising hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone were evaluated. Testicle specimens were also processed for histological and biochemical analyses, including determinations of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, total antioxidant capacity, alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, gamma glutamyl transferase, ß-glucuronidase, c-reactive protein, monocyte chemoattractant protein and leukotriene-4 and in comet assays. CP treatments were associated with deleterious histopathological, biochemical and genetic changes in rat testicles, and these were ameliorated by IP6 supplements in drinking water.