To study the effect of starch-polyphenol interaction induced by different processing methods on digestion characteristics, a dynamic in vitro human gastrointestinal system was employed to investigate the digestive characteristics of lotus seed starch-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) complex (LS-EGCG) prepared by different processing methods. Digestion altered crystal structure, particle size, morphology, pH, starch hydrolysis, and EGCG content. Processing broke physical barriers, reducing particle size by enzyme erosion. Enzymatic hydrolysis gradually exposed EGCG, indicated by green fluorescence. Heat and high pressure treatments enhanced starch dissolution, increasing sugar accumulation and hydrolysis. However, ultrasonic-microwave and high pressure microfluidization treatments formed dense structures, decreasing hydrolysis rates. Overall, the complex formed by high pressure microfluidization showed better enzyme resistance. The results provide a scientific basis for the development of food with quality and functional properties.

Lotus rhizome is an important aquatic vegetable, but the blackening of lotus rhizome epidermis (LRE) seriously affects its appearance and quality, which makes lotus rhizome products unmarketable. In this study, the effects of polyphenols and iron on the LRE color were studied to explore the possible mechanism of LRE blackening. Results indicated that the measurable total phenols contents in the mud treatment (MT) group were significantly reduced, and the total iron contents were significantly increased compared with the bruised treatment group (p < 0.05). The high-performance liquid chromatography results showed that the main polyphenols in LRE were dopa, gallocatechin, and catechin, as well as a small amount of catechol, epicatechin, proanthocyanidin B2, and proanthocyanidin C1. Moreover, the results of color difference and ultraviolet adsorption spectroscopy showed that there were obviously black or brown-gray of dopa (525 nm), gallocatechin (504.5 nm), and catechin (550 and 504.5 nm) with FeCl2. The simulated system treatment of LRE further confirmed that the chromaticity effect of dopa and iron in bruised LRE was similar to that of the MT group, whereas 1% (w/w) ascorbic acid, 2% (w/w) EDTA-2Na, or 3% (w/w) citric acid could solely prohibit the blackening. This suggested that the dopa in LRE and FeCl2 in mud may mainly combine into [2(DOPA-2H+)+Fe3+]- through non-covalent interaction, which leads to the blackening of bruised LRE under neutral conditions. These results can guide the storage of lotus rhizomes and improve the development of the lotus rhizome industry.

Areca nuts have been used as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Recent studies have shown that it exhibits good pharmacological activity and toxicity. In this study, the pharmacokinetics of five major components of areca nut extract in rats were investigated using a highly sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method. Arecoline, arecaidine, guvacoline, guvacine, and catechin were separated and quantified accurately using gradient elution with mobile phases of (A) water containing 0.1 % formic acid-10 mM ammonium formate, and (B) methanol. The constituents were detected under a timing switch between the positive and negative ion modes using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Each calibration curve had a high R2 value of >0.99. The method accuracies ranged -7.09-11.05 % and precision values were less than 14.36 %. The recovery, matrix effect, selectivity, stability, and carry-over of the method were in accordance with the relevant requirements. It was successfully applied for the investigation of the pharmacokinetics of these five constituents after oral administration of areca nut extract. Pharmacokinetic results indirectly indicated a metabolic relationship between the four areca nut alkaloids in rats. For further clarification of its pharmacodynamic basis, this study provided a theoretical reference.

BACKGROUND: The antiviral drug Nirmatrelvir was found to be a key drug in controlling the progression of pneumonia during the infectious phase of COVID-19. However, there are very few options for effective treatment for cancer patients who have viral pneumonia. Glucocorticoids is one of the effective means to control pneumonia, but there are many adverse events. EGCG is a natural low toxic compound with anti-inflammatory function. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the safety and efficacy of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) aerosol to control COVID-19 pneumonia in cancer populations.
METHODS: The study was designed as a prospective, single-arm, open-label phase I/II trial at Shandong Cancer Hospital and Institute, between January 5, 2023 to March 31,2023 with viral pneumonia on radiographic signs after confirmed novel coronavirus infection. These patients were treated with EGCG nebulization 10 ml three times daily for at least seven days. EGCG concentrations were increased from 1760-8817umol/L to 4 levels with dose escalation following a standard Phase I design of 3-6 patients per level. Any grade adverse event caused by EGCG was considered a dose-limiting toxicity (DLT). The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) is defined as the highest dose with less than one-third of patients experiencing dose limiting toxicity (DLT) due to EGCG. The primary end points were the toxicity of EGCG and CT findings, and the former was graded by Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) v. 5.0. The secondary end point was the laboratory parameters before and after treatment.
RESULTS: A total of 60 patients with high risk factors for severe COVID-19 pneumonia (factors such as old age, smoking and combined complications)were included in this phase I-II study. The 54 patients in the final analysis were pathologically confirmed to have tumor burden and completed the whole course of treatment. A patient with bucking at a level of 1760 umol/L and no acute toxicity associated with EGCG has been reported at the second or third dose gradients. At dose escalation to 8817umol/L, Grade 1 adverse events of nausea and stomach discomfort occurred in two patients, which resolved spontaneously within 1 hour. After one week of treatment, CT showed that the incidence of non-progression of pneumonia was 82% (32/39), and the improvement rate of pneumonia was 56.4% (22/39). There was no significant difference in inflammation-related laboratory parameters (white blood cell count, lymphocyte count, IL-6, ferritin, C-reactive protein and lactate dehydrogenase) before and after treatment.
CONCLUSIONS: Aerosol inhalation of EGCG is well tolerated, and preliminary investigation in cancer population suggests that EGCG may be effective in COVID-19-induced pneumonia, which can promote the improvement of patients with moderate pneumonia or prevent them from developing into severe pneumonia.
BACKGROUND: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05758571. Date of registration: 8 February 2023.

(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is remarkably efficacious in inhibiting the browning of red meat. We therefore propose a hypothesis that EGCG forms complexes with myoglobin, thereby stabilizing its structure and thus preventing browning. This study investigated the interaction mechanism between EGCG and myoglobin. EGCG induced static quenching of myoglobin. Noncovalent forces, including hydrogen bonds and van der Waals, primarily governing the interactions between myoglobin and EGCG. The interactions primarily disrupted myoglobin\'s secondary structure, thus significantly reducing surface hydrophobicity by 53% (P < 0.05). The modification augmented the solubility and thermal stability of myoglobin. The radius of gyration (Rg) value fluctuated between 1.47 and 1.54 nm, and the hydroxyl groups in EGCG formed an average of 2.93 hydrogen bonds with myoglobin. Our findings elucidated the formation of stable myoglobin-EGCG complexes and the myoglobin-EGCG interaction, thus confirming our initial hypothesis.

The perception of polyphenols as a safe, healthy, and sustainable solution for replacing synthetic antioxidants has been an important factor for their rapid growing in the global food market. Therefore, it is essential to use reliable methods for their quantification in commercial products intended for animal or human consumption. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of some solvents used for the extraction of selected polyphenols, explore their stability under different experimental conditions, and validate a liquid chromatography tandem mass-spectrometry method for their quantification in commercial fish feed ingredients by using the standard addition method. The regression models for gallic acid, hydroxytyrosol, catechin, oleuropein, carnosol and carnosic acid were linear in the range 0-30 μg/mL, limit of detection and quantification around 0.03 and 0.1 μg/mL, respectively, and accuracy within ± 15 % of the nominal concentrations. The method was successfully applied to the determination of specific polyphenols in commercial fish feed ingredients supplemented with polyphenols from olive and rosemary extracts.

Targeted metabolomics combined with chemometrics were applied to investigate the flavor profiles of 4 white tea samples, which were produced from different maturity fresh tea leaves with different withering methods. Mature leaves that underwent novel withering process at higher temperature (28-30℃) and humidity (75 ± 3 %) (MN) were characterized by intense milky flavor. The content of free amino acids, catechins, and soluble sugars in MN were significantly lower than that in the other 3 tea samples, resulting in a sweet and mellow taste with low bitterness. Meanwhile, MN possessed the highest intensity of milky aroma, which could be mainly attributed to the existence of dihydro-5-pentyl-2(3H)-furanone and 2-pentyl-furan as the key volatile substances with coconut and creamy fragrance. These findings provide insight into the substance foundations of milky flavor, and identified leaf maturity and processing method as the determining factors of the milk-flavored white tea (MFWT).

The present work aimed to characterize the phenolic and antioxidant content of the Argentinian purple maize \"Moragro\" cultivar. Additionally, the INFOGEST simulated in vitro digestion model was used to establish the effect of digestion on bioactive compounds. Finally, digestion samples were used to treat Caco-2 cells in the transwell model to better understand their bioavailability. Twenty-six phenolic compounds were found in purple maize cv. \"Moragro\", 15 nonanthocyanins and 11 anthocyanins. Several compounds were identified in maize for the first time, such as pyrogallol, citric acid, gallic acid, kaempferol 3-(6″-ferulylglucoside), and kaempferol 3-glucuronide. Anthocyanins accounted for 24.9% of total polyphenols, with the predominant anthocyanin being cyanidin-3-(6″ malonylglucoside). Catechin-(4,8)-cyanidin-3,5-diglucoside and catechin-(4,8)-cyanidin-3-malonylglucoside-5-glucoside were detected as characteristics of this American maize variety. Total polyphenol content (TPC; by the Folin-Ciocalteu method), HPLC-DAD/MSMS, and antioxidant activity [by DPPH and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP)] were evaluated throughout in vitro digestion. TPC, DPPH, and FRAP results were 2.71 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g, 24 μmol Trolox equiv/g, and 22 μmol Trolox eq/g, respectively. The in vitro digestion process did not cause significant differences in TPC. However, the antioxidant activity was significantly decreased. Moreover, the bioavailability of anthocyanins was studied, showing that a small fraction of polyphenols in their intact form was conserved at the end of digestion. Finally, a protective effect of digested maize polyphenols was observed in the Caco-2 cell viability. The results suggest that \"Moragro\" purple maize is a good source of bioavailable anthocyanins in the diet and an interesting source of this group of compounds for the food industry.

BACKGROUND: Currently, there is no antiviral medication for dengue, a potentially fatal tropical infectious illness spread by two mosquito species, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The RdRp protease of dengue virus is a potential therapeutic target. This study focused on the in silico drug discovery of RdRp protease inhibitors.
METHODS: To assess the potential inhibitory activity of 29 phenolic acids from Theobroma cacao L. against DENV3-NS5 RdRp, a range of computational methods were employed. These included docking, drug-likeness analysis, ADMET prediction, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The aim of these studies was to confirm the stability of the ligand-protein complex and the binding pose identified during the docking experiment.
RESULTS: Twenty-one compounds were found to have possible inhibitory activities against DENV according to the docking data, and they had a binding affinity of ≥-37.417 kcal/mol for DENV3- enzyme as compared to the reference compound panduratin A. Additionally, the drug-likeness investigation produced four hit compounds that were subjected to ADMET screening to obtain the lead compound, catechin. Based on ELUMO, EHOMO, and band energy gap, the DFT calculations showed strong electronegetivity, favouravle global softness and chemical reactivity with considerable intra-molecular charge transfer between electron-donor to electron-acceptor groups for catechin. The MD simulation result also demonstrated favourable RMSD, RMSF, SASA and H-bonds in at the binding pocket of DENV3-NS5 RdRp for catechin as compared to panduratin A.
CONCLUSIONS: According to the present findings, catechin showed high binding affinity and sufficient drug-like properties with the appropriate ADMET profiles. Moreover, DFT and MD studies further supported the drug-like action of catechin as a potential therapeutic candidate. Therefore, further in vitro and in vivo research on cocoa and its phytochemical catechin should be taken into consideration to develop as a potential DENV inhibitor.

Anti-inflammatory activities of catechin-rich green tea extract (GTE) in obese rodents protect against metabolic endotoxemia by decreasing intestinal permeability and absorption of gut-derived endotoxin. However, translation to human health has not been established. We hypothesized that GTE would reduce endotoxemia by decreasing gut permeability and intestinal and systemic inflammation in persons with metabolic syndrome (MetS) compared with healthy persons. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in healthy adults (n = 19, 34 ± 2 years) and adults with MetS (n = 21, 40 ± 3 years) examined 4-week administration of a decaffeinated GTE confection (890 mg/d total catechins) on serum endotoxin, intestinal permeability, gut and systemic inflammation, and cardiometabolic parameters. Compared with the placebo, the GTE confection decreased serum endotoxin (P = .023) in both healthy persons and those with MetS, while increasing concentrations of circulating catechins (P < .0001) and γ-valerolactones (P = .0001). Fecal calprotectin (P = .029) and myeloperoxidase (P = .048) concentrations were decreased by GTE regardless of health status. Following the ingestion of gut permeability probes, urinary lactose/mannitol (P = .043) but not sucralose/erythritol (P > .05) was decreased by GTE regardless of health status. No between-treatment differences (P > .05) were observed for plasma aminotransferases, blood pressure, plasma lipids, or body mass nor were plasma tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, or the ratio of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein/soluble cluster of differentiation-14 affected. However, fasting glucose in both study groups was decreased (P = .029) by the GTE confection compared with within-treatment arm baseline concentrations. These findings demonstrate that catechin-rich GTE is effective to decrease circulating endotoxin and improve glycemic control in healthy adults and those with MetS, likely by reducing gut inflammation and small intestinal permeability but without affecting systemic inflammation.