Tuberculosis (TB) remains a foremost poverty-related disease with a high rate of mortality despite global immunization with Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG). Several adjuvanted recombinant proteins are in clinical development for TB to protect against the disease in infants and adults. Nevertheless, simple mixing of adjuvants with antigens may not be optimal for enhancing the immune response due to poor association.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFspecies are increasingly investigated as sources of phenolic compounds with potential as therapeutic agents. Recently, we demonstrated that a crude polyphenol-enriched organic fraction (CPEF) of , currently forming the bulk of commercial production, decreased lipid content in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and inhibited body weight gain in obese db/db mice. The aim of the present study was to determine whether a more effective product and/or one with higher specificity could be obtained by fractionation of the CPEF by purposely increasing xanthone and benzophenone levels.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSimilarity analysis of the phenolic fingerprints of a large number of aqueous extracts of Cyclopia subternata, obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), was evaluated as a potential tool to screen extracts for relative bioactivity. The assessment was based on the (dis)similarity of their fingerprints to that of a reference active extract of C. subternata, proven to enhance glucose uptake in vitro and in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAspalathin and nothofagin, the major dihydrochalcones in rooibos (Aspalathus linearis), are valuable bioactive compounds, but their bioactivity has not been fully elucidated. Isolation of these compounds using high-performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC), a gentle, support-free, up-scalable technique, offers an alternative to synthesis for obtaining sufficient amounts. An HPLC-DAD method was adapted to allow rapid (16 min from injection to injection) quantification of the four major compounds (aspalathin, nothofagin, isoorientin, orientin) during development of the isolation protocol.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci
March 2014
The benzophenone, iriflophenone-3-C-glucoside, was isolated from Cyclopia genistoides using a combination of fluid-fluid extraction, high performance counter-current chromatography (HPCCC) and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The microplate oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, with fluorescein as probe, was adapted for use in an on-line HPLC configuration. The method was validated using a mixture of authentic standards including iriflophenone-3-C-glucoside, and the xanthones, mangiferin and isomangiferin.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Food Microbiol
November 2012
Quantitative PCR as a tool has been used to detect Brettanomyces bruxellensis directly from wine samples. Accurate and timely detection of this yeast is important to prevent unwanted spoilage of wines and beverages. The aim of this study was to distinguish differences between DNA and mRNA as template for the detection of this yeast.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF