Abstract:The antioxidant activity and chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid contents were investigated from different parts of Acanthopanax senticosus and A. koreanum. Antioxidant activity was assessed by various in vitro assays such as DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, reducing power assays and ORAC, and the chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid were validated by HPLC chromatography. Among the various extracts, the fruit extracts of A. senticosus and A. koreanum exhibited strongest antioxidant activities including ABTS, FRAP, reducing power and ORAC, however, strongest DPPH radical scavenging activity was observed from the leaf extract of A. senticosus. In addition, the antioxidant activities of various extracts were correlated with total phenolic and proanthocyanidin contents. The major phenolic contents from various parts of these plants observed that leaf extract of A. senticosus expressed higher levels of chlorogenic acid (14.86 mg/dry weigh g) and caffeic acid (3.09 mg/dry weigh g) than other parts. Therefore, these results suggest that the leaf of A. senticosus may OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2015, 20 13282 be an excellent natural source for functional foods and pharmaceutical agents, and the validated method was useful for the quality control of A. senticosus.

cis,cis-Muconic acid (MA) is a valuable C6 dicarboxylic acid platform chemical that is used as a starting material for the production of various valuable polymers and drugs, including adipic acid and terephthalic acid. As an alternative to traditional chemical processes, bio-based MA production has progressed to the establishment of de novo MA pathways in several microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium glutamicum, Pseudomonas putida, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Redesign of the metabolic pathway, intermediate flux control, and culture process optimization were all pursued to maximize the microbial MA production yield. Recently, MA production from biomass, such as the aromatic polymer lignin, has also attracted attention from researchers focusing on microbes that are tolerant to aromatic compounds. This paper summarizes recent microbial MA production strategies that involve engineering the metabolic pathway genes as well as the heterologous expression of some foreign genes involved in MA biosynthesis. Microbial MA production will continue to play a vital role in the field of bio-refineries and a feasible way to complement various petrochemical-based chemical processes.

The aim of this study was to investigate a validation method for determination of pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin in fermented Cirsium setidens Nakai. For validation, the specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, detection limits, and quantification limits of pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin were measured by HPLC. The results show that the detection limits of pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin were 4.25 μg/mL and 2.46 μg/mL, respectively. The recovery rates of pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin were high in the ranges of 99.7∼104.0% and 99.7∼102.4%, respectively. Inter-day and intra-day precisions of pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin in fermented Cirsium setidens Nakai were 0.9%, 0.5% and 0.5%, 0.2%, respectively. Therefore, application of pectolinarin and pectolinarigenin was validated by an analytical method as a marker compound in Cirsium setidens Nakai.

The hepatoprotective effects of fermented black rice bran extracts (FF1 and FF2: black rice bran fermented by Lentinus edodes derived from mycelium supplemented with soybean or Hovenia dulcis) and their associated mechanisms were evaluated. In an in vitro experiment, FFs caused significant amelioration of the metabolic function of rat hepatocytes treated with NH4Cl. In addition, administration of FFs to rats with chronic liver injury induced by 12-week continual alcohol consumption resulted in significant restoration of body weight shrinkage, notable attenuation of excessive aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and endotoxin in serum, malondialdehyde in liver and the lactulose/mannitol ratio in urine. Furthermore, FF1 or FF2 also caused significant downregulation of gene expression of several critical inflammatory mediators (interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, cyclooxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase). Histopathological findings also indicated that FFs reduced inflammation, necrosis and fatty infiltration in liver tissue. Taken together, FFs exert hepatoprotective effects through anti-inflammatory and anti-lipid peroxidative properties and regulation of intestinal permeability. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSIn this study, mycelia fermentation was utilized as a feasible strategy for enhancing the hepatotherapeutic effect of black rice and herbs. The findings demonstrated that Hovenia dulcis exerts a synergistic protective effect on an alcoholic liver disease animal model and could provide a new effective potential approach to alleviate alcoholic liver diseases.

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