Distinctions in structure, rheology, antioxidation, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of ß-glucans from different species.

To investigate the distinctions between ß-glucans from different species, Lentinula edodes ß-glucan (LG), yeast ß-glucan (YG), and oat ß-glucan (OG) were extracted with hot water and determined as ß-d-glucopyranose form by HPLC and FT-IR analysis. The molecular weight (Mw) of LG, YG, and OG was 670 kDa, 341 kDa, and 66 kDa, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy exhibited different micro surfaces of three ß-glucans and the relative crystallinity of YG was the highest (29.8 %), followed by that of LG (23.2 %) and OG (20.3 %) determined by X-ray diffraction. Congo red analysis and atomic force microscopy showed that LG and YG have triple helical structures. The apparent viscosity, storage modulus (G'), and loss modulus (G") of ß-glucans were increased with the increase of Mw. DPPH·, ABTS+·, HO·, and reducing power assays showed that ß-glucans from different species exhibited different antioxidant activities, and the DPPH· scavenging rate of 2 mg/mL LG reached >80 % higher than that of YG and OG. The α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of OG was better than YG and LG. In summary, ß-glucans from different species have different structures, physicochemical properties, and physiological functions, which provides theoretical evidence for the precise processing and utilization of ß-glucan.

Cyanidin-3-galactoside from Aronia melanocarpa ameliorates silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis by modulating the TGF-ß/mTOR and NRF2/HO-1 pathways.

Cyanidin-3-galactoside (C3G), the most abundant anthocyanin in Aronia melanocarpa, has many beneficial health effects, such as antioxidation. C3G was extracted from A. melanocarpa and applied (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight) to 50-µl silica particles (SP) solution-exposed mice to research its antifibrotic properties using histological analysis, hydroxyproline assay, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and western blot analysis. The results showed that C3G treatment significantly ameliorated pulmonary fibrosis and cell infiltration into the lungs of mice. It also relieved SP-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), 400 mg/kg C3G treatment increasing epithelial-cadherin mRNA expression and decreasing α-smooth muscle actin mRNA expression to the level of that in the control group. Western blot analysis showed that exposure to SP increased the production of transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1) and phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) by 4.71- and 4.15-fold, respectively, in the lungs of mice, which were significantly inhibited by C3G treatment. Moreover, 400 mg/kg C3G treatment up-regulated two important antioxidant mediators, nuclear factor erythroid-2-related factor 2 (NRF2; 4.91-fold) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1; 4.81-fold). The mechanism study indicated that C3G might inhibit the TGF-ß/mTOR signaling via the NRF2/HO-1 pathway and that SP-induced pulmonary EMT was ameliorated by inhibiting the TGF-ß/mTOR signaling pathway. Our findings could provide new avenues for C3G as a functional food for preventing or mediating the progression of SP-induced pulmonary fibrosis.

Preparing, optimising, and evaluating chitosan nanocapsules to improve the stability of anthocyanins from Aronia melanocarpa.

The anthocyanins extracted from Aronia melanocarpa are of great interest because of their potential health-related functionalities. However, their poor stabilities have limited their use in applications. Hence, to improve their physical and oxidative stability, we optimised the chitosan nanocapsules encapsulating anthocyanins from Aronia melanocarpa, and evaluated the systems in terms of their physicochemical characteristics, physical and oxidant stability in simulated gastrointestinal digestion and different storage environments. Results show that the obtained nanocapsules present favorable particle size (197 nm) with good surface morphology, highly encapsulation efficiency (65.7%), suitable zeta potential (+42.7 mV), and low polydispersity index (0.032). Furthermore, compared with free anthocyanins, the nanoencapsulated anthocyanins exhibited significantly slower degradation and stronger antioxidant activity during the simulated gastrointestinal digestion and environmental storage. Thus, the physical and oxidative stability of anthocyanins in Aronia melanocarpa was enhanced significantly by chitosan nanoencapsulation.