Simulated Gastrointestinal Digestion of Chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) Shell Extract Prepared by Subcritical Water Extraction: Bioaccessibility, Bioactivity, and Intestinal Permeability by In Vitro Assays

Abstract

Chestnut shells (CSs) are an appealing source of bioactive molecules, and constitute a popular research topic. This study explores the effects of in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and intestinal permeability on the bioaccessibility and bioactivity of polyphenols from CS extract prepared by subcritical water extraction (SWE). The results unveiled higher phenolic concentrations retained after gastric and intestinal digestion. The bioaccessibility and antioxidant/antiradical properties were enhanced in the following order: oral < gastric ≤ intestinal digests, attaining 40% of the maximum bioaccessibility. Ellagic acid was the main polyphenol in the digested and undigested extract, while pyrogallol–protocatechuic acid derivative was only quantified in the digests. The CS extract revealed potential mild hypoglycemic (<25%) and neuroprotective (<75%) properties before and after in vitro digestion, along with upmodulating the antioxidant enzymes’ activities and downregulating the lipid peroxidation. The intestinal permeation of ellagic acid achieved 22.89% after 240 min. This study highlighted the efficacy of the CS extract on the delivery of polyphenols, sustaining its promising use as nutraceutical ingredient.

Insights into the digestion of chestnut (Castanea sativa) shells bioactive extracts—ultrasound vs. microwave‐assisted extraction

“…Moreover, the extraction techniques only significantly impacted (P < 0.05) the TPC of undigested extracts and gastric digests. These results are in line with the ones reported in a previous study published by our research team for CSS extract prepared by subcritical water extraction before and after in vitro digestion (87.86, 127.44, 141.77 and 362.28 mg GAE g À1 DW, respectively, for oral, gastric and intestinal digests and undigested extract) (Pinto et al, 2023e). Oppositely, lower results were obtained for a CSS extract prepared by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) (37.96, 38.57 and 127.72 μg GAE mg À1 DW, respectively, for gastric and intestinal digests and undigested extract) (Pinto et al, 2024).…”

Development and Characterization of Microparticles with Actinidia arguta Leaves Extract by Spray-Drying: A New Mind-Set Regarding Healthy Compounds for Oral Mucositis

“…The phenolic compounds present in the A. arguta leaves extract, as well as in the produced microparticles, were determined by liquid chromatography equipped with triple quadruple mass spectrometry (LC/DAD-ESI-MS), according to the procedure described by Silva et al [ 26 ]. The stationary phase used was an Agilent Eclipse XDB C-18 (3.0 × 150 mm) 3.5 μm column and the mobile phase consisted of a gradient of three compounds: 1% formic acid (A), acetonitrile (B), and methanol (C).…”

Bioactive Compounds and Industrial Peeling Applications of Inner and Outer Shells of Chestnuts (Castanea spp.)

“…It was also considered that bioactive compounds of chestnut shell were very resistance to in vitro digestion conditions. With these properties, chestnut shells were evaluated as a promising ingredient for the delivery of polyphenols in nutraceutical studies (Pinto et al 2023). Noh et al (2010a) demonstrated the antioxidant effects of chestnut (C. crenata) inner shell extract in cell line and oxidative stress-induced animal models.…”