Optimisation of the Conversion and Extraction of Arctigenin From Fructus arctii Into Arctiin Using Fungi

Abstract

Fructus arctii is commonly used in Chinese medicine, and arctiin and arctigenin are its main active ingredients. Arctiin has low bioavailability in the human body and needs to be converted into arctigenin by intestinal microbes before it can be absorbed into the blood. Arctigenin has antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumour effects and its development has important value. In this study, we used external microbial fermentation with Aspergillus awamori and Trichoderma reesei to process and convert arctiin from F. arctii powder into arctigenin, hence increasing its bioavailability. We developed a fermentation process by optimising the carbon and nitrogen source/ratio, fermentation time, pH, liquid volume, inoculation volume, and substrate solid-liquid ratio. This allowed for an arctiin conversion rate of 99.84%, and the dissolution rate of the final product was 95.74%, with a loss rate as low as 4.26%. After the fermentation of F. arctii powder, the average yield of arctigenin is 19.51 mg/g. Crude fermented F. arctii extract was purified by silica gel column chromatography, and we observed an arctigenin purity of 99.33%. Our technique effectively converts arctiin and extracts arctigenin from F. arctii and provides a solid basis for further development and industrialisation.

Arctiin alleviates functional constipation by enhancing intestinal motility in mice

“…and absorbed into the blood (17). Several studies have showed a wide spectrum of pharmacological activity attributed to Arc including neuroprotection, anti-inflammation and anti-oxidative stress properties (18)(19)(20).…”

Probiotic‐fermented edible herbs as functional foods: A review of current status, challenges, and strategies

“…To date, numerous researchers from various countries have investigated MFH (Table 1) (Khan, Huang, et al., 2018; Pinela et al., 2017; Shingnaisui et al., 2018; Xie et al., 2022), which has proven to be an effective means of regulating human health owing to its rich content of natural active ingredients, such as polyphenols, flavonoids, polysaccharides, saponins, alkaloids, and essential oils (Garayev et al., 2018; Lu et al., 2022; Mdkhana et al., 2021; Pan et al., 2021; Zacchino et al., 2017; Zhang, Zhu, et al., 2022). The development of probiotics (Table 2) in recent years has opened up opportunities for MFH, and probiotic‐driven fermentation provides a novel approach to the high‐value and industrialization of MFH, addressing the limitations of its application, such as certain side‐effects, lack of in‐depth studies on its efficacy, low oral bioavailability, and poor flavor (Bohn et al., 2015; Leonard et al., 2021; Lu et al., 2021). In addition, studies have shown that the biological activity of many herbs, including MFH, is achieved through biotransformation by intestinal microbiota (Hussain et al., 2016).…”