Drying conditions significantly impact the compositions and microstructures of polysaccharides, leading to various effects on their chemical characteristics and bioactivities. The objective of this study was to investigate how different industrial drying techniques, i.e., hot air drying, infrared drying, microwave vacuum drying, and freeze drying, affect the structural properties and biological activities of polysaccharides extracted from Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit (RRTP). Results revealed that these drying methods significantly altered the extraction yield, molecular weights, monosaccharide ratios, contents of uronic acid and total sugars, gelling properties, particle sizes, thermal stability, and microstructures of RRTPs. However, the monosaccharide composition and functional groups of polysaccharides remained consistent across the different drying techniques. Biological activity assays demonstrated that RRTPs, particularly those processed through microwave vacuum drying (MVD-RRTP), exhibited excellent anti-linoleic acid oxidation, robust anti-glycosylation effects, and significant α-glucosidase inhibition in vitro. The outcomes of this research demonstrate that microwave vacuum drying serves as an effective pre-extraction drying method for RRTPs, enhancing their biological activities. This technique is particularly advantageous for preparing RRTPs intended for use in functional foods and pharmaceuticals, optimizing their health-promoting properties for industrial applications.

Rosa roxburghii Tratt is a plant from the Rosaceae family whose fruits are rich in vitamins, dietary fiber, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and other active components (Jiang, et al. 2024). In July 2023, about R. roxburghii 500 plants were investigated in a field of 6000 m2 in Guiding County (107°14\'E, 26°45\'N), Guizhou province, China, and the results showed a leaf spot incidence of s 20 to 30%. . The affected leaves had irregular, black lesions with a clear blackish brown boundary and faint black conidiomata in a brown center. Fifteen symptomatic leaves were collected from 10 plants washed with sterile distilled water, and 5 × 5 mm pieces of the infected tissues were cut. After surface sterilization for30 s with 75% ethanol, 2 min with 3% NaOCl, three washes in sterilized distilled water, the leaf pieces were dried and placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and incubated at 25℃ for 5 days. Three isolates (H3-Y-1-1, H3-Y-1-2, H3-Y-1-3) with identical morphology were obtained, and the isolate H3-Y-1-1was selected for further study. The colonies on PDA exhibited irregular growth patterns, with white felty aerial mycelium on the upper surface, and white mycelium on the lower surface. Conidiomata were irregularly distributed over the agar surface. The isolate H3-Y-1-1 produced darkly pigmented pycnidia on PDA after 30 days and oozed milky mucilaginous drops. The fungus produced two types of conidia, α and β. Regular α conidia were 4.74 - 5.96 × 1.52 - 2.24 μm (n = 50), hyaline, elongated, biguttulate and non-septate. Beta conidia were 20.13 - 25.74 × 0.86 - 1.29 μm (n = 50), aseptate, hyaline, smooth, spindle shaped, slightly curved to bent. The morphological features were consistent with the description of Diaporthe eres (Pereira, et al. 2022). The pathogen was confirmed to be D. eres by amplification and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the partial β-tubulin (TUB), the partial translation elongation factor 1-alpha (TEF) genes using primers ITS1/ITS4, Bt-2a/Bt-2b, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, respectively. Sequences from PCR amplification were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers PP411998 (ITS), PP502153 (TUB), PP502156 (TEF). BLAST searches of the sequences revealed (96%) (500/523nt), 97% (479/494 nt) and 99% (334/338 nt) homology with those of D. eres CBS 138594 from GenBank (OM698848, OM752196 and OM752197), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian methods placed the isolate H3-Y-1-1 in a well-supported cluster with D. eres CBS 101742. The pathogen was thus identified as D. eres based on the morphological characterization and molecular analyses (Feng, et al. 2013; Tao, et al. 2020). To assess its pathogenicity, healthy R. roxburghii potted plants were inoculated with H3-Y-1-1 spore suspensions. Symptomatic leaves mirroring field symptoms were observed after XX days of incubations at XX°C, while control plants exhibited no symptoms. Diaporthe eres was consistently reisolated from the infected leaves showing brown irregular or round lesions at the initial stage of the disease, expanding and become more irregular over time ultimately causing leaf curling and plant death. To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot on R. roxburghii caused by D. eres in China. The disease may become a serious threat to fruit of R. roxburghii production in China. Therefore, detection of this pathogen is very important to ensure timely disease management.

Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruits (RRT) exhibit extremely high nutritional and medicinal properties due to its unique phytochemical composition. Probiotic fermentation is a common method of processing fruits. Variations in the non-volatile metabolites and bioactivities of RRT juice caused by different lactobacilli are not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to profile the non-volatile components and investigate the impact of L. plantarum fermentation (LP) and L. paracasei fermentation (LC) on RRT juice (the control, CG). There were both similarities and differences in the effects of LP and LC on RRT juice. Both of the two strains significantly increased the content of total phenolic, total flavonoid, and some bioactive compounds such as 2-hydroxyisocaproic acid, hydroxytyrosol and indole-3-lactic acid in RRT juice. Interestingly, compared with L. paracasei, L. plantarum showed better ability to increase the content of total phenolic and these valuable compounds, as well as certain bioactivities. The antioxidant capacity and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of RRT juice were notably enhanced after the fermentations, whereas its cholesterol esterase inhibitory activity was reduced significantly. Moreover, a total of 1466 metabolites were identified in the unfermented and fermented RRT juices. There were 278, 251 and 134 differential metabolites in LP vs CG, LC vs CG, LC vs LP, respectively, most of which were upregulated. The key differential metabolites were classified into amino acids and their derivatives, organic acids, nucleotides and their analogues, phenolic acids and alkaloids, which can serve as potential markers for authentication and discrimination between the unfermented and lactobacilli fermented RRT juice samples. The KEGG enrichment analysis uncovered that metabolic pathways, purine metabolism, nucleotide metabolism and ABC transporters contributed mainly to the formation of unique composition of fermented RRT juice. These results provide good coverage of the metabolome of RRT juice in both unfermented and fermented forms and also provide a reference for future research on the processing of RRT or other fruits.

This study takes the fruit of Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) as a fermentation substrate and carries out a quantitative visual analysis of the domestic and foreign literature on screenings of five different lactic acid bacteria to obtain a fermentation broth. Systemic anti-photoaging effects are analyzed at the biochemical, cellular, and molecular biological levels. DPPH and ABTS free radical scavenging activities are used to verify the antioxidant capacity of the RRT fruit fermentation broth in vitro. Human embryonic skin fibroblasts (HESs) are used to establish a UVA damage model, and the antioxidant capacity of the RRT fruit fermentation broth is verified in terms of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzyme activity. RT-qPCR and ELISA are used to detect the expression of TGF-β/Smad, MMPs, and the MAPK/AP-1 and Nrf2/Keap-1 signaling pathways in order to explore the anti-oxidation and anti-photoaging effects of the RRT fruit fermentation broth by regulating different signaling pathways. The results show that an RRT fruit fermentation broth can effectively protect cells from oxidative stress caused by UVA and has significant anti-photoaging effects, with the co-cultured Lactobacillus Yogurt Starter LYS-20297 having the highest overall effect.

Arsenic can cause immune inflammation, which is the basis of arsenic-induced damage to multiple organs and systems. Forkhead box P3 (Foxp3)-labelled CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) play an essential role in maintaining immune homeostasis. Nuclear factor-κb (NF-κB) and Interleukin-2 (IL-2) are critical regulators of Foxp3. Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) is an edible medicinal plant with anti-inflammation effects. In this study, a control group (n = 41) and an arseniasis group (n = 209) were recruited, and screened subjects from the arseniasis patients for RRTJ (n = 46) or placebo (n = 43) to explore the possible mechanism by which RRT alleviates immune inflammation. The results indicated that RRTJ can inhibits NF-κB and increases IL-2, and alleviates the Foxp3-mediated Tregs imbalance in the peripheral blood of arseniasis patients. In summary, these findings suggest a novel intervention or therapeutic target for immune inflammation in arseniasis patients and provide new evidence that RRTJ inhibits immune inflammation.
UNASSIGNED:
UNASSIGNED: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-023-01384-0.

Cellulase can increase the soluble dietary fiber (SDF) content in Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT), but the effects on polyphenol content, bioactivity, and flavor are unknown. This study analyzed the changes in SDF content, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and flavor before and after cellulase treatment. Cellulase treatment increased the SDF and total phenolic content of RRT by 13 % (P < 0.05) and 25.68 % (P < 0.05), respectively, and increased the antioxidant activity. HS-GC-IMS identified a total of 42 volatile compounds present, and ROAV analysis revealed that the characteristic aroma compounds of RRT were mainly aldehydes, alcohols, and ethers. The electronic nose and tongue results were consistent with the HS-GC-IMS analysis, indicating the positive effect of cellulase on the quality of RRT. Cellulase treatment significantly improved the oxidative activity and flavor performance of RRT. These results of RRT, providing practical guidance for improving the flavor and product quality.

Environmental arsenic exposure is a significant global public health concern. Previous studies have demonstrated the association between arsenic-induced liver injury and oxidative stress as well as ferroptosis. However, the knowledge of the interactions among these mechanisms remains limited. Moreover, there is a lack of research on potential therapeutic interventions for liver injury resulting from arsenic exposure. To address these limitations, we established a rat model with liver injury caused by arsenic exposure and investigated the impact of the nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4) signaling pathway and ferroptosis on arsenic-induced liver injury. Our findings revealed that arsenic increased Nrf2 expression and decreased GPx4 expression in the rat liver. This was accompanied by a substantial generation of reactive oxygen species and disruption of the antioxidant defense system, ultimately promoting liver injury through ferroptosis. Subsequently, we conducted intervention experiments using Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) in rats exposed to arsenic. The results showed that the detrimental effects mentioned earlier were partially alleviated following RRT intervention. This study offers preliminary evidence that persistent activation of Nrf2 by arsenic triggers an adaptive antioxidant response, leading to liver injury through the promotion of ferroptosis. Additionally, we discovered that RRT inhibits Nrf2-mediated adaptive antioxidant responses by reducing hepatic ferroptosis, thereby mitigating liver injury caused by arsenic exposure in rats. Our study contributes to a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying liver injury resulting from arsenic exposure. Furthermore, our findings may facilitate the identification of a potential edible and medicinal plant extracts that could be utilized to develop a more effective adjunctive treatment approach.

A complex metabolic disorder, type 2 diabetes, was investigated to explore the impact of ellagitannin, derived from Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RTT), on liver lipid metabolism disorders in db/db mice. The findings demonstrated that both RTT ellagitannin (C1) and RTT ellagic acid (C4) considerably decelerated body mass gain in db/db mice, significantly decreased fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, and mitigated the aggregation of hepatic lipid droplets. At LDL-C levels, C1 performed substantially better than the C4 group, exhibiting no significant difference compared to the P (positive control) group. An RNA-seq analysis further disclosed that 1245 differentially expressed genes were identified in the livers of experimental mice following the C1 intervention. The GO and KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that, under ellagitannin intervention, numerous differentially expressed genes were significantly enriched in fatty acid metabolic processes, the PPAR signaling pathway, fatty acid degradation, fatty acid synthesis, and other lipid metabolism-related pathways. The qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis results indicated that RTT ellagitannin notably upregulated the gene and protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). In contrast, it downregulated the gene and protein expression levels of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP), recombinant fatty acid synthase (FASN), and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). Therefore, RTT ellagitannin can activate the PPAR signaling pathway, inhibit fatty acid uptake and de novo synthesis, and ameliorate hepatic lipid metabolism disorder in db/db mice, thus potentially aiding in maintaining lipid homeostasis in type 2 diabetes.

Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) is a kind of excellent fruit, with many healthy functions. RRT fruit dietary interventions have demonstrated a remarkable potential to prevent type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In the present study, the effects of Lactobacillus paracasei SR10-1 fermented RRT juice (FRRT) on the oxidative stress, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), and gut microbiota in T2DM mice induced by high-sugar and high-fat diets and streptozotocin (STZ) were investigated using GC-MS and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The results showed that medium-dose FRRT intervention resulted in significantly decreased levels of TG, TC, LDL-C, BUN, creatinine, and MDA (p < 0.05) and significantly increased levels of HDL-C, GSH-PX, CAT, and SOD of T2DM mice (p < 0.05). The levels of acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, and isovaleric acid were significantly increased, by 142.28%, 428.59%, 1968.66%, and 81.04% (p < 0.05), respectively. The relative abundance of Firmicutes, Lachnospiraceae, Verrucomicrobiaceae, Akkermansia, and Allobaculum was significantly increased (p < 0.05), and the relative abundance of Proteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Veillonellaceae, Phascolarctobacterium, and Klebsiella was significantly decreased (p < 0.05). Correlation analysis showed that Phascolarctobacterium was significantly negatively correlated with weight (p < 0.05), SOD (p < 0.01), CAT (p < 0.05), and T-AOC (p < 0.05). Akkermansia was significantly negatively correlated with weight (p < 0.05). Conclusively, medium-dose FRRT potentially improved T2DM by reversing dyslipidemia, decreasing oxidative stress, increasing SCFAs, and regulating gut microbiota composition. The medium-dose FRRT may serve as a novel T2DM dietary strategy to prevent T2DM.

BACKGROUND: Rosa roxburghii Tratt (RRT) is a famous healthy and medicinal edible fruit in southwest China and has been shown to have some hepatoprotective properties. However, whether the active components, such as the triterpene acids from Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruits (TAR), have anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) effects and the potential molecular mechanisms are still unclear.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the anti-HCC effects and potential action mechanisms of triterpene components in RRT fruits.
METHODS: The triterpene acids in TAR were analyzed by using UPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap/MS, and the main components were virtual screening for targets based on pharmacophore and then performed enrichment analysis. HepG2 cells were used for in vitro experiments, including MTT assay, wound healing assay, and flow cytometry to detect cell cycle, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, caspase-3 activity, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) changes. Moreover, the western blot was used to detect mitochondrial apoptosis and ROS/ c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway-related proteins.
RESULTS: The main components in TAR are pentacyclic triterpene acids (mainly euscaphic acid and roxburic acid). TAR could inhibit cell viability, cell migration ability and suppress the proliferation of HepG2 cells through G2/M cell cycle arrest. On the other hand, TAR could induce HepG2 cells apoptosis, which was achieved by causing the accumulation of ROS and activation of the JNK signaling pathway, and our research showed that this apoptosis was mediated through the mitochondrial pathway. In addition, the free radical scavenger N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) could attenuate TAR-induced ROS accumulation and JNK signaling pathway activation, which ultimately reversed mitochondrial apoptosis.
CONCLUSIONS: TAR could activate the ROS/JNK signaling pathway, which could inhibit the proliferation through G2/M cell cycle arrest and promote apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway in HCC cells. This supports the anti-tumor potential in RRT fruits.