Roselle is an annual botanical plant that widely planted in different countries worldwide. Its different parts, including seeds, leaves, and calyces, can offer multi-purpose applications with economic importance. The present review discusses the detailed profile of bioactive compounds present in roselle seeds, leaves, and calyces, as well as their extraction and processing, to explore their potential application in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, nutraceutical, food and other industries. Roselle seeds with high phenolics, fiber, and protein contents, which are suitable to use in functional food product development. Besides, roselle seeds can yield 17-20% of roselle seed oil with high content of linoleic acid (35.0-45.3%) and oleic acid (27.1- 36.9%). This unique fatty acid composition of roselle seed oil makes it suitable to use as edible oil to offer the health benefits of essential fatty acid. Moreover, high contents of tocopherols, phenolics, and phytosterols were detected in roselle seed oil to provide nutritional, pharmaceutical, and therapeutic properties. On the other hand, roselle leaves with valuable contents of phenols, flavonoids, organic acid, and tocopherols can be applied in silver nanoparticles, food product development, and the pharmaceutical industry. Roselle calyces with high content of anthocyanins, protocatechuic acids, and organic acids are widely applied in food and colorant industries.

Medium-chain triacylglycerol (MCT) is a type of triacylglycerol that has six or seven to twelve carbon chains. It consists of three molecules of fatty acids attached to one molecule of glycerol. Drug delivery system (DDS) is defined as a formulation to distribute drugs into the human body. The unique properties of MCTs have garnered interest in using them as excipients in DDS. Even though there are many significant effects attributed to the use of MCTs, especially in modulating the rate of drug delivery in various DDS, they are all limited and intermittent. This warrants a detailed summary of the previous studies on the use of MCTs in various DDS. Therefore, this review focuses on presenting a systematic review of previous studies on the use of MCTs in the last six years and explores the types and effects of MCTs on DDS that employ various types of delivery routes. A systematic search through PubMed, Science Direct and Scopus was performed. Keywords like “medium-chain triglycerides”, “medium-chain fatty acids”, “medium-chain triglycerides and their fractions”, “medium-chain fatty acids and their fractions”, “MCTs”, “MCFA”, “in drug delivery”, “in drug delivery system” and their combinations were used. The synonyms of the words were also used to extend the search. A total of 17 articles that met the inclusion criteria were identified. Findings from this review have identified the several MCTs and their fractions used in DDS that employed the oral/enteral, topical, transdermal, parenteral, and pulmonary routes of drug delivery. The review also highlights that the usage of MCTs in DDS results in a better transportation of drugs into the human body.

Urea complexation is a widely used method for enriching polyunsaturated fatty acids, and cooling is the traditional approach for urea crystallization. This study aimed to investigate the potential of rotary-evaporation under vacuum as an alternative method for urea crystallization in urea complexation to enrich docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA-containing microalgal oil was converted to ethyl esters (EE) as the raw material. In comparison to cooling, rotary-evaporation crystallization, as a post-treatment method for urea complexation, led to higher DHA contents in the non-urea included fractions. The ratios of urea to EE converted from DHA-containing microalgal oil was found to be the primary factors influencing urea complexation when using rotary-evaporation crystallization. Through an orthogonal test, optimal process conditions were determined, including a urea/EE ratio of 2, an ethanol/urea ratio of 7, and a rotary-evaporation temperature of 75℃. Under these conditions, a concentrate containing more than 90% DHA could be obtained.

Gemlik is a cultivar that grows in a distinct region of Turkiye and is ideal for brine fermentation of brine black table olives. Bursa Protected Designated Origin (PDO) and Izmir non-PDO Gemlik table olives have high levels of oleic acid (74%), total phenol (190 mg/kg), and dry matter (57%), while being low in linoleic acid (8%). The pH values and salt contents were observed to be in the range of 4.1 to 4.3 and 3.9% to 4.8%, respectively. During the fermentation of Gemlik table olives, a mass transfer occurred, resulting in a reduction in reducing sugar and total sugar contents as well as an increase in the salt content of the olives. Despite the reduction of phenolic content in both Gemlik PDO and non-PDO table olives, their antioxidant capacity remains high after fermentation. The oil content, antioxidant activity, phenolic contents, palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic, and linoleic acids were all found to be significant variables in distinguishing between Gemlik PDO and non-PDO table olives using PLS-DA analysis. There is a statistically significant correlation between the phenolic content and oleic (0.588) and linoleic (–0.659) acids (p < 0.05). Bursa PDO and Izmir non-PDO exhibit enhanced nutritional quality and antioxidant activity, unequivocally differentiating them from Hatay and Mersin non-PDO Gemlik table olives with 98% accuracy through discriminant analysis (p < 0.05). PLS-DA and DA can effectively identify variations in the quality of Turkish-style black table olives preserved in brine, originating from PDO and non-PDO growing areas.

This study aims to quantitatively analyze nervonic (C24:1 n-9) and erucic (C22:1 n-9) acids in human milk (HM) collected from Korean mothers, along with the infant formulas (IFs) with different fat sources and nutritional stages. The content of nervonic and erucic acids in HM from Korean mothers were 2.13 and 2.81 mg/100 g, accounting for 0.06 and 0.08% of the total fatty acids (FAs), respectively. These acids in IFs based on fat from plant-oil formula were higher than those in IFs based on cow milk formula. The composition of erucic acid in IFs based on cow milk formula and plant-oil formula increased with the nutritional stages, while nervonic acid only increased in IFs based on the plant-oil formula.

Organic Na-montmorillonite (OMt-12-2-12·2Y ^– , Y=CH ₃ CO ₃ ^– , C ₆ H ₅ COO ^– and Br ^– ) modified by a series of Gemini quaternary ammonium surfactants with different counterions was prepared for enhancing the adsorption capacity of methyl orange. Compared with the initial adsorption capacity of 5.251 mg/g of Na-Mt, the adsorption effect of OMts under the optimal conditions increased by about 31~34 times. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics of all adsorption processes were respectively described by Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models. The structure, hydrophobicity and hydration of the counterions, as well as the affinity of the counterions with the long aliphatic chains, had a certain influence on the adsorption performance of OMts for methyl orange.

Acute pancreatitis (AP) have been documented to have severe impact on pancreatic function. Frequent incidence of AP can result in chronic pancreatitis and thereby it can increase the probability of pancreatic cancers. This study intended to examine the effect of selenium nanoparticles (Se-NPs) synthesized from Coleus forskohlii leaf extract on pancreatic function and AP in rat. Primarily, Se-NPs was fabricated using the C. forskohlii leaf extract. The synthesized nanomaterial was characterized through UV-visible, XRD, and FTIR spectroscopies. Notably, the zeta potential of Se-NPs was found to be –32.8 mV with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.18. Morphological analysis on SEM unveiled the spherical shape of Se-NP with an average particle size of 12.69 nm. Strikingly, cytotoxicity analysis on pancreatic cancer and normal cells unveiled the concentration-dependent toxicity profile. However, IC ₅₀ value is lower in normal pancreatic cell lines in comparison to pancreatic cancer cells lines. Assessment of Se-NPs on AP rats revealed the positive impact of Se-NPs. It effectively decreased the amount of lipase, amylase, IL-1β, MDA, NO, and Bcl-2 while increased the glucose, insulin, HOMA-β and antioxidant potential in AP rats. In addition, an evaluation of Se-NPs in the pancreatic functions revealed the non-harmful effect of Se-NPs.

Neuronal cell death and dysfunction of the central nervous system can be caused by oxidative stress, which is associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Sophocarpine, an alkaloid compound derived from Sophora moorcroftiana (Benth.) Baker seeds, has a wide range of medicinal value. This study sought to determine how sophocarpine exerts neuroprotective effects by inhibited oxidative stress and apoptosis in mouse hippocampus neuronal (HT22) cells. 20mM glutamate-induced HT22 cells were used to develop an in vitro model of oxidative stress damage. The Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to assess cell viability. According to the instructions on the kits to detect reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and oxidative stress indicators. HT22 cells were examined using immunofluorescence and Western Blotting to detect Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-related Factor 2 (Nrf2) expression. The expression of proteins and messenger RNA (mRNA) for heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) was examined by Western Blotting and Quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and Cell apoptosis were used by 5, 5', 6, 6'-Tetrachloro-1, 1', 3, 3'-tetraethyl-imidacarbocyanine iodide (JC- 1) kit and Terminal Deoxynucleotidyl Transferase-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) apoptosis assay kit, respectively. Finally, the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins was detected by Western Blotting. The result demonstrated that sophocarpine (1.25 μM-10 μM) can significantly inhibit glutamate-induced cytotoxicity and ROS generation, improve the activity of antioxidant enzymes. Sophocarpine increased the expression of HO-1 protein and mRNA and the nuclear translocation of Nrf2 to play a cytoprotective role; however, cells were transfected with small interfering RNA targeting HO-1 (si-HO-1) reversed the above effects of sophocarpine. In addition, sophocarpine significantly inhibited glutamate induced mitochondrial depolarization and further inhibited cell apoptosis by reducing the expression level of caspase-related proteins.

Astilbin is a flavanonol, found in St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) and many other plants. It has been demonstrated that astilbin contains anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immune-suppressive properties. However, the bioavailability of astilbin remains a question for which drug delivery-based nanoparticles can be utilized. We formulated a nanostructured lipid carrier loaded with astilbin (NLC-AS) and tested its effects on the rotenone exposed PC12 cells and in a neurodegenerative mice model of Parkinson’s disease (PD) induced by rotenone. Results show that rotenone caused dose-dependent inhibition of PC12 cell growth with about 50% cell death at 2 µM rotenone. Rotenone caused apoptosis in PC12 cells which was reduced to a notable level by NLC-AS through suppression of oxidative stress, especially via elevation of GSH and total antioxidant capacity, and inhibition of monoamine oxidase. Rotenone significantly augmented neurodegeneration in mouse brains by triggering apoptosis and oxidative damage, while NLC-AS treatment halted these processes. Rotenone-exposed mice showed neuronal deficits and impaired neurocognitive functions like loss of memory and learning restrictions which were restored to a remarkable level by NLC-AS administration. The protective effect of NLC-AS was mediated through the inhibition of GSK3β and induction of Nrf2 genes in the brain tissues. These findings suggest that NLC-AS administration may efficiently regulate the signs of PD in mice and prevent neurodegeneration and neurocognitive dysfunctions.