ABSTRACT
Plant foods are important due to their antioxidant activity (AOA) attributed to the phenolics which are known to protect organisms against harmful effects of oxygen radicals. However, information on antioxidant activity of Indian plant foods is scanty. Therefore, the present study evaluated the AOA of cereals, millets, pulses and legumes, commonly consumed in India and assessed the relationship with their total phenolic content (TPC). AOA was assessed by DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl) radical scavenging assay, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay and reducing power. DPPH scavenging activity ranged from 0.24 and 1.73 mg/g, whereas FRAP ranged from 16.21 to 471.71 micromoles/g. Finger millet (Eleusine cora cana) and Rajmah (Phaseolus vulgaris) had the highest FRAP 471.71, 372.76 and DPPH scavenging activity 1.73, 1.07. Similar trends were observed with reducing power. Among cereals and legumes, Finger millet (Ragi) and black gram dhal (Phaseolus mungo Roxb) had the highest TPC, the values being 373 and 418 mg/100 g respectively, while rice (Oryza sativa) and green gram dhal (Phaseolus aureus Roxb) showed the least (47.6 and 62.4 mg/100 g). In the present study, FRAP (r = 0.91) and reducing power (r = 0.90) showed significant correlation with TPC in cereals and millets, but not in pulses and legumes. The results suggest that TPC contributes significantly to the AOA of Indian cereals and millets.
Subject(s)
Antioxidants , Edible Grain/chemistry , Eleusine/chemistry , Fabaceae/chemistry , Food , Hydroxybenzoates/analysis , India , Oryza/chemistry , Panicum/chemistry , Phaseolus/chemistryABSTRACT
Monkey liver ferritin was isolated and purified along with human liver ferritin and their physicochemical and immunological characteristics were compared. The apparent molecular weight of monkey liver ferritin was estimated to be 430 kDa as against 450 kDa of human liver ferritin. Both ferritins appeared to be made up of a 22.5 kDa polypeptide under denaturing conditions and the proteins contained neutral sugar (wt/wt) of 2.0% (monkey) and 2.4% (human). By immunoblots both human and monkey liver ferritins showed appreciable cross-reactivity with the polyclonal antibodies raised against either proteins. Monkey liver ferritin, however, was not recognised by the human monoclonal antibody. The amino acid composition of both ferritins was more or less similar. Isoelectric focusing indicated that monkey liver ferritin showed microheterogeneity with three bands at pI 5.4, 5.5 and 5.6, whereas human liver ferritin showed a single band at pI 5.6 confirming the relative acidic nature of monkey liver ferritin.
Subject(s)
Adult , Amino Acids/analysis , Animals , Antibodies , Carbohydrates/analysis , Cross Reactions , Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel , Ferritins/chemistry , Humans , Liver/metabolism , Macaca mulatta , Molecular Weight , UltracentrifugationABSTRACT
The iodine content of fresh and processed marine fish collected from different parts of coastal India was analysed. It was found that Indian marine fish are rich in iodine content (mean of 193 +/- 82 micrograms/100 g on wet weight basis). Also the iodine contents of shell fish and crabs (0.7-2.5 mg/100 g on wet weight basis) were higher than that of other fish. No significant regional differences were noted in the iodine content of marine fish. Further, no differences were observed in case of either salted or sun-dried fish indicating that curing did not influence the iodine content.