Sono-assembly of ellagic acid into nanostructures significantly enhances aqueous solubility and bioavailability.

INTRODUCTION: Ellagic acid (EA), commonly found in foods, offers significant health benefits in combating chronic diseases. However, its therapeutic potential is hindered by its extremely poor solubility and bioavailability. METHOD: In this study, EA nanoparticles (EA NPs) were produced using a sono-assembly method, without additional agents. RESULTS: EA NPs exhibited stick-like nanoparticle structures with an average size of 147.3 ± 0.73 nm. EA NPs likely adopt a tunnel-type solvate structure, with 4 water participating in disruption of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in EA and establishment of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between EAs. Importantly, EA NPs exhibited remarkable enhancements in water solubility, with 120.7-fold increase in water, and 97.8-fold increase in pH 6.8 buffer. Moreover, ex vivo intestinal permeability studies demonstrated significant improvements (P < 0.5). These findings were further supported by in vivo pharmacokinetic studies, where EA NPs significantly enhanced the relative bioavailability of EA by 4.69 times.

Investigation of Tannins Transformation in Sanguisorbae Radix Over Carbonizing by Stir-Frying.

Carbonizing by stir-frying (CSF) is the most common technology in botanical folk medicines to enhance the convergence, hemostasis, and antidiarrheal effects. Sanguisorbae Radix (SR), a well-known herbal medicine in China, has extensive therapeutic functions, while charred SR is known as an additional product obtained from SR after CSF. In this study, mass spectrometry was used to investigate the effect of charring on tannins transformation of SR. The findings showed that the content level of tannins in SR decreased significantly after carbonizing process, while their three categories, gallotannins, ellagitannins, and procyanidins, had downward trends in general. Moreover, CSF also induced the polyphenol in SR to release relevant monomers from its origins. Significant amount of hydrolyzable tannins were detected by mass spectrometry, including gallotannins and ellagitannins, suggesting that hydrolysis during CSF yielded gallic and ellagic acid and their derivatives, in addition to sugar moieties. Subsequently, gallic and ellagic acid can further polymerize to form sanguisorbic acid dilactone. The amount of proanthocyanidins, the oligomers of catechin, including procyanidin, procyanidin C2, procyanidin B3, and 3-O-galloylprocyanidin B3, decreased to form catechin and its derivatives, which may further degrade to protocatechualdehyde. Quantitative analysis illustrated that the amount of gallic, pyrogallic, and ellagic acid and methyl gallate, the essential effectors in SR, significantly increased after CSF, with increased ratios of 1.36, 4.28, 10.33, and 4.79, respectively. In contrast, the contents of cathechin and epigallocatechin dropped remarkably with increased ratios of 0.04 and 0.02. Tannins exhibit moderate absorption, while their relevant monomers have a higher bioavailability. Therefore, CSF is proved here to be an effective technique to the release of active monomers from the original polyphenol precursor. This study explored the mechanism by which tannins are transformed upon CSF of SR.

Isolation and characterization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria with tolerance to hypoxic environments.

Hypoxic conditions are considerably different from aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and they are widely distributed in natural environments. Many pollutants, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), tend to accumulate in hypoxic environments. However, PAH biodegradation under hypoxic conditions is poorly understood compared with that under obligate aerobic and obligate anaerobic conditions. In the present study, PAH-degrading bacteria were enriched, and their biodegradation rates were tested using a hypoxic station with an 8% oxygen concentration. PAH-degrading bacteria collected from sediments in low-oxygen environments were enriched using phenanthrene (Phe) or pyrene (Pyr) as the sole carbon and energy source. Individual bacterial colonies showing the ability to degrade Phe or Pyr were isolated and identified by 16S rDNA gene sequencing. Morphological and physiological characterizations of the isolated bacterial colonies were performed. The isolated bacteria were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and were identified as Pseudomonas sp., Klebsiella sp., Bacillus sp., and Comamonas sp. Phylogenetic tree of the isolated PAH-degrading bacteria was also constructed. The biodegradation ability of these bacteria was tested at an initial Phe or Pyr concentration of 50 mg L-1. The biodegradation kinetics were best fit by a first-order rate model and presented regression coefficients (r2) that varied from 0.7728 to 0.9725 (P < 0.05). The half-lives of the PAHs varied from 2.99 to 3.65 d for Phe and increased to 60.3-82.5 d for Pyr. These half-lives were much shorter than those observed under anaerobic conditions but were similar to those observed under aerobic conditions.