Safety assessment of enzymatically converted chicken bile as a novel food material: Genotoxicity, teratogenicity, and acute and subchronic toxicity studies.

Enzymatically converted chicken bile (CB), prepared by converting taurine deoxycholic acid (TCDCA) to taurine ursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) in CB, possesses various functional activities. But their nutrient composition and safety assessment have not been fully investigated yet. CB was mainly composed of proteins and steroids. CB did not show genotoxic effects based on Ames test, mammalian erythrocyte micronucleus test, and in vitro mammalian chromosomal aberration test. There were no growth abnormalities or deaths in the acute toxicity test for mice, indicating that CB is nontoxic with an LD50 > 10 g/kg·body weight (BW). Subchronic toxicity test and genotoxicity test were performed based on intake of 0.5 g CB per person daily at expanded doses of 33.3, 100, and 300 times (278, 833, and 2500 mg/kg·BW). The result indicated that CB at 833 mg/kg·BW showed no toxicity on BW, body weight gain, food intake, hematological, serum biochemistry, absolute/relative organ weights, urinalysis, and pathological features of rats in the subchronic toxicity test, while CB at 833 mg/kg·BW induced maternal toxicity with no fetus teratogenicity or embryotoxicity in the teratogenicity test. In conclusion, CB did not show toxic effects and a long-term daily intake of CB at 0.5 g per person is considered safe, but pregnant women should avoid it. These findings could provide a reference for the safe use of CB in functional food.

Evaluation of the therapeutic effect of Sacha inchi oil in atopic dermatitis mice.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a prevalent inflammatory skin condition characterized by a multifaceted pathogenesis, which encompasses immune system signaling dysregulation, compromised skin barrier function, and genetic influencers. Sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis L.) oil (SIO) has demonstrated potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, however, the mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of SIO on AD remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the anti-AD effect of SIO and its possible molecular mechanism in mice with AD. The results demonstrated that SIO significantly reduced the degree of skin lesions and scratching, and improved the skin thickness and mast cell infiltration in AD mice. Furthermore, SIO significantly reduced the levels of immunoglobulin E, histamine and thymic stromal lymphopoietin in serum of AD mice. Additionally, it inhibited the expression of tumor necrosis factor-γ, interferon-γ, interleukin-2, interleukin-4, interleukin 1ß and other inflammatory cytokines in the lesions skin of mice. The Western blotting analysis revealed that SIO exhibited an upregulatory effect on the protein expression of filaggrin and loricrin, while concurrently exerting inhibitory effects on the protein expression and phosphorylation levels of P38, ERK, NF-κB, and IκBα within their respective signaling pathways. Consequently, it can be inferred that SIO exerts a significant anti-atopic dermatitis effect by modulating the P38, ERK, NF-κB, and IκBα signaling pathways. This study contributes to expand the research and development potential of SIO, and provides novel insights and potential therapeutic strategies for AD treatment.

A comparative evaluation of the structure, functionality and volatile profiles of Trichosanthes kirilowii seed protein isolates based on different extraction methods.

In the present study, we hypothesised that Trichosanthes kirilowii seed protein isolate (TPI) obtained by different extraction methods have distinct structure, functional attributes and volatile profiles. Alkaline-extracted isolate (AE-TPI) exhibited lower protein content and a darker colour than the other two isolates because more polyphenols and pigments were coextracted. Salt-extracted isolate (SE-TPI) and AE-TPI had higher in vitro protein digestibility than reverse micelle-extracted isolate (RME-TPI) due to higher degrees of denaturation, which enabled them to be more susceptible to proteolysis. The SE-TPI gel resulted in a stronger gel network and greater hardness than the other two isolate gels. In the volatile profile, SE-TPI (22) yielded the largest number of volatile compounds, followed by AE-TPI (20) and RME-TPI (15). The current results indicated that the structure, functional properties and volatile profiles of TPI are largely influenced by the extraction technique.

Ultra-Sensitive, Rapid and On-Site Sensing Harmful Ingredients Used in Aquaculture with Magnetic Fluid SERS.

The integration of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy with magnetic fluid provides significant utility in point-of-care (POC) testing applications. Bifunctional magnetic-plasmonic composites have been widely employed as SERS substrates. In this study, a simple and cost-effective approach was developed to synthesize magnetic-plasmonic SERS substrates by decorating silver nanoparticles onto magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (AgMNPs), which function both as SERS-active substrates and magnetic fluid particles. The strong magnetic responsivity from AgMNPs can isolate, concentrate, and detect target analytes from the irregular surface of fish skin rapidly. We fabricate a microfluid chip with three sample reservoirs that confine AgMNPs into ever smaller volumes under an applied magnetic field, which enhances the SERS signal and improves the detection limit by two orders of magnitude. The magnetic fluid POC sensor successfully detected malachite green from fish with excellent selectivity and high sensitivity down to the picomolar level. This work achieves a label-free, non-destructive optical sensing approach with promising potential for the detection of various harmful ingredients in food or the environment.