Extraction of Bioactive Compounds from Prestonia mollis Leaves and Their Impregnation into Polylactic Acid Using High-Pressure Technologies: Potential for Biomedical Application.

Enhanced solvent extraction (ESE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) have been used for the first time to obtain antioxidant compounds from Prestonia mollis leaves. The effects of pressure (100-250 bar), temperature (55-75 °C) and the composition of the extraction solvent (ethanol, water and hydroalcoholic mixtures) were evaluated according to multilevel factorial designs. PLE provided the largest extraction yields compared to ESE, as well as a greater impact of the operating conditions studied. The highest total phenolic content was obtained when using a hydroalcoholic mixture (CO2/ethanol/water 50/25/25) through ESE at 100 bar and 75 °C. The antioxidant capacity of this extract is related to higher concentration levels of the identified flavonoids: Quercetin 3-O-xylosyl-rutinoside, Kaempferol 3-(2G-apiosylrobinobioside) and Kaempferol 4'-glucoside 7-rhamnoside. This extract was tested for the supercritical impregnation of polylactic acid (PLA), which is a polymer widely used in the biomedical industry. The influence of pressure (100-400 bar), temperature (35-55 °C), amount of extract (3-6 mL) and impregnation time (1-2 h) have been evaluated. The best results were obtained by impregnating 3 mL of extract at 100 bar and 55 °C for 2 h, achieving 10% inhibition with DPPH methods. The extract presented a potentially suitable impregnation of PLA for biomedical applications.

Polymeric membranes functionalized with nanomaterials (MP@NMs): A review of advances in pesticide removal.

The excessive contamination of drinking water sources by pesticides has a pernicious impact on human health and the environment since only 0.1% of pesticides is utilized effectively to control the and the rest is deposited in the environment. Filtration by polymeric membranes has become a promising technique to deal with this problem; however, the scientific community, in the need to find better pesticide retention results, has begun to meddle in the functionalization of polymeric membranes. Given the great variety of membrane, polymer, and nanomaterial synthesis methods present in the market, the possibilities of obtaining membranes that adjust to different variables and characteristics related to a certain pesticide are relatively extensive, so it is expected that this technology will represent one of the main pesticide removal strategies in the future. In this direction, this review focused on, - the main characteristics of the nanomaterials and their impact on pristine polymeric membranes; - the removal performance of functionalized membranes; and - the main mechanisms by which membranes can retain pesticides. Based on these insights, the functionalized polymeric membranes can be considered as a promising technology in the removal of pesticides since the removal performance of this technology against pesticide showed a significant increase. Obtaining membranes that adjust to different variables and characteristics related to a certain pesticide are relatively extensive, so it is expected that functionalized membrane technology will represent one of the main pesticide removal strategies in the future.

Chemicals/materials of emerging concern in farmlands: sources, crop uptake and potential human health risks.

Certain chemicals/materials that are contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) have been widely detected in water bodies and terrestrial systems worldwide while other CECs occur at undetectable concentrations. The primary sources of CECs in farmlands are agricultural inputs, such as wastewater, biosolids, sewage sludge, and agricultural mulching films. The percent increase in cropland area during 1950-2016 was 30 and the rise in land use for food crops during 1960-2018 was 100-500%, implying that there could be a significant CEC burden in farmlands in the future. In fact, the alarming concentrations (µg kg-1) of certain CECs such as PBDEs, PAEs, and PFOS that occur in farmlands are 383, 35 400 and 483, respectively. Also, metal nanoparticles are reported even at the mg kg-1 level. Chronic root accumulation followed by translocation of CECs into plants results in their detectable concentrations in the final plant produce. Thus, there is a continuous flow of CECs from farmlands to agricultural produce, causing a serious threat to the terrestrial food chain. Consequently, CECs find their way to the human body directly through CEC-laden plant produce or indirectly via the meat of grazing animals. Thus, human health could be at the most critical risk since several CECs have been shown to cause cancers, disruption of endocrine and cognitive systems, maternal-foetal transfer, neurotoxicity, and genotoxicity. Overall, this comprehensive review provides updated information on contamination of chemicals/materials of concern in farmlands globally, sources for their entry, uptake by crop plants, and their likely impact on the terrestrial food chain and human health.

Contaminants in the cow's milk we consume? Pasteurization and other technologies in the elimination of contaminants.

Cow's milk is currently the most consumed product worldwide. However, due to various direct and indirect contamination sources, different chemical and microbiological contaminants have been found in cow's milk. This review details the main contaminants found in cow's milk, referring to the sources of contamination and their impact on human health. A comparative approach highlights the poor efficacy and effects of the pasteurization process with other methods used in the treatment of cow's milk. Despite pasteurization and related techniques being the most widely applied to date, they have not demonstrated efficacy in eliminating contaminants. New technologies have appeared as alternative treatments to pasteurization. However, in addition to causing physicochemical changes in the raw material, their efficacy is not total in eliminating chemical contaminants, suggesting the need for new research to find a solution that contributes to improving food safety.

Efecto hipoglucémico del extracto acuoso de Chuquiraga jussieui J.F. Gmel en ratas con diabetes inducida / Hypoglycemic effect of aqueous extract from Chuquiraga jussieui J.F. Gmel in rats with induced diabetes

Introducción: la Chuquiraga Jussieui J.F. Gmel es una planta silvestre que crece en los Andes ecuatorianos y es utilizada ampliamente por las culturas ancestrales y la población común como medicina folclórica, especialmente como antidiabético, antinflamatorio y febrífugo. Objetivos: evaluar el efecto hipoglucémico del extracto acuoso de la Chuquiraga jussieui, en ratas con diabetes inducida. Métodos: para la determinación del efecto hipoglucémico, se utilizaron ratas de la línea isogénica Wistar con hiperglicemia inducida. Se trabajó con 6 grupos (control normal sin tratamiento, control hiperglicémico con estreptozotocina, control hiperglicémico tratado con fármaco hipoglucemiante glibenclamida, y 3 concentraciones del extracto acuoso 100, 200 y 400 mg/kg de peso corporal, del extracto de Chuquiraga jussieui. Los resultados fueron evaluados estadísticamente, mediante pruebas de distribución normal con el test de Shapiro wilk y homogeneidad de varianza por el test de Levene, análisis de varianza entre los grupos y comparaciones múltiples (Tukey). Resultados: el grupo con estreptozotocina bajo el efecto solamente de la hiperglicemia inducida y sin tratamiento alguno, mostró aumentos significativos de las medias de glicemia durante todo el tiempo del estudio; El grupo con glibenclamida presentó una disminución significativa en más de 8 mmol L-1 de diferencia, igualmente sucedió con los grupos de tres concentraciones de extracto 100, 200 y 400 mg/Kg tratados con los diferentes niveles de extracto de la planta en estúdio, y resultó mayor el contraste en el último grupo. Conclusiones: se determinó que el extracto acuoso de Chuquiraga jussieui J. F Gmel presenta efecto hipoglucemiante a partir de 400 mg Kg-1 frente a un fármaco en un modelo para diabetes mellitus tipo 2.

Introduction: Chuquiraga jussieui J.F. Gmel is a wild plant species that grows in the Ecuadorian Andes. It is broadly used by ancestral cultures and the common population as folk medicine, particularly as antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and febrifuge. Objectives: Determine the hypoglycemic effect of aqueous extract from Chuquiraga jussieui in rats with induced diabetes. Methods: Determination of the hypoglycemic effect was conducted in rats from the Wistar isogenic line with induced hyperglycemia. Six groups were formed: normal control without treatment, hyperglycemic control with streptozotocin, hyperglycemic control treated with the hypoglycemic drug glibenclamide, and aqueous extract from Chuquiraga jussieui at three concentrations (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight). Statistical assessment of results included normal distribution by the Shapiro­Wilk test, variance homogeneity by Levene's test, analysis of variance between the groups, and multiple comparisons by Tukey's tests. Results: The streptozotocin group with induced hyperglycemia and no treatment showed a significant mean glycemia increase throughout the study. The glibenclamide group showed a significant decrease of over 8 mmol/l, and so did the three extract groups (concentrations of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) treated with various volumes of extracts from the study plant, the contrast being greater in the latter group. Conclusions: It was determined that aqueous extract from Chuquiraga jussieui J.F. Gmel displays hypoglycemic activity as of 400 mg/kg versus a drug in a model for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Efecto antioxidante de la Chuquiraga jussieui J. F. Gmel en el ensayo de hemólisis / Antioxidant effect of the Chuquiraga jussieui J. F. Gmel using the hemolysis test

Se realizó la evaluación del efecto hemolítico y antioxidante del extracto acuoso de la Chuquiraga jussieui utilizando el ensayo de hemólisis del eritrocito humano producido por el dodecilsulfato de sodio. Se evaluaron cinco concentraciones del extracto (7,5, 15, 30, 60 y 120 mg/L). Se validó el efecto hemolítico producido por el dodecilsulfato en una solución que contiene eritrocitos, dodecilsulfato de sodio y solución amortiguadora fosfato salino; se obtuvo la concentración de hemoglobina en la suspensión utilizando espectroscopia ultravioleta visible, y se determinó el efecto antioxidante del extracto de Chuquiraga jussieui. Se obtuvo una concentración de hemoglobina media (CH50) del dodecilsulfato de sodio de 35,35 mg/L; mientras que para el extracto de Chuquiraga jussieui, la CI50 fue de 64,89 mg/L y la CI90 fue de 86,96 mg/L. Estos resultados sugieren la posible utilización del extracto de esta planta como antioxidante.

The evaluation of the hemolytic and antioxidant effect of the aqueous extract of C. jussieui was carried out using the hemolysis test with the human erythrocyte produced by the sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). Five concentrations of the extract (7, 5, 15, 30, 60 and 120 mg/L) were evaluated. The hemolytic effect produced by the dodecyl sulphate was validated in a solution that contains erythrocytes, SDS and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and the hemoglobin concentration was obtained in the suspension using ultraviolet- visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), the one that was used to determine the antioxidant effect of the extract of C. jussieui. The average concentration of hemoglobin (CH50) of SDS obtained was of 35,35 mg/L; while for the extract of C. jussieui, the (CI50) was of 64,89 mg/L and the (CI90) was of 86,96 mg/L. These results suggest the possible use of the extract of this plant as an antioxidant.