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Oxidative stress and inflammation are considered as two key factors that contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. This study was to investigate the antioxidant capacity of huskless barley and to explore its protective functions through the regulation of the antioxidant defense and inflammatory response in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) scavenging capacity of water and alkali extracts of the polysaccharides from nine huskless barley varieties were investigated in vitro. The antioxidant properties of the alkaline extracts were more pronounced than those of the water extracts. The results from the cell model showed that pretreatment of HUVEC with the water or alkaline extracts of the polysaccharides from the huskless barley cultivars QHH and NLGL decreased the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) but increased the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and maintained cell viability. Huskless barley polysaccharide extracts exhibited the vasodilatory effect of inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) production. These discoveries revealed the potent protective functions of barley in oxidative damage and a potential role for barley in preventing chronic inflammation in cardiovascular diseases.

Background and objectives The key factors determining the extraction conditions of soluble dietary fiber from hulless barley grass (HBG) are still unclear. Impact of enzymatic treatment on the yield of soluble fiber of HBG under different reaction conditions was investigated. Findings Response surface methodology (RSM) was carried out to establish the optimal combination of reaction conditions based on Box‐Behnken design (BBD), using xylanase concentration (X1: 400–1200 unit/g), cellulase concentration (X2: 200–600 unit/g), and enzymatic hydrolysis time (X3: 1–5 hr). The optimum reaction condition increased soluble dietary fiber (SDF) of HBG from 1.6% to 22.8%, when HBG was subjected to a combination of xylanase (995 unit/g) and cellulase (392 unit/g) for 2.4 hr. The experimental value (22.8%) was close to the theoretically predicted yield (23.0%), indicating that the model could be used to predict the yield of SDF in HBG. Conclusions SDF level was correlated to xylanase concentration and cellulase concentration, but the main factor was enzymatic hydrolysis time. Reaction conditions were not significantly related to particle size and water to raw material ratio. Significance and novelty This study could provide support for production of SDF‐based functional food products.

Barley leaves are rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, proteins, minerals and other nutrients. They are the most popular functional foods in Hongkong, Japan, North America and Southeast Asia in recent years. The dietary fiber has become a hot subject for the research of the food industry with its physicochemical property and the prevention of high blood fat, diabetes, obesity and other physiological functions. Therefore, this paper aims to study the content of dietary fiber in barley leaf powder and determine the content of soluble dietary fiber and insoluble dietary fiber by enzymatic-gravimetric method using the total amount of Megazyme dietary fiber test kit. Samples of five kinds of common barley(Yannong No. 1, Subei 4, Subei 9, Siyin 3 and Dongxin 1) were prepared. The results were as follows: the content range of insoluble dietary fiber was 1.71%-6.69%, the content range of soluble dietary fiber was 0.60%-2.26%, and the range of RSD value was 0.62%-7.97%. These experimental data and testing methods can provide reference for the scholars who study the nutritional efficacy of barley leaf powder, and further promote the market development of this kind of products in China.