Erythrocytes and cell line-based assays to evaluate the cytoprotective activity of antioxidant components obtained from natural sources.

Oxidative stress can damage cellular components including DNA, proteins or lipids, and may cause several skin diseases. To protect from this damage and addressing consumer's appeal to natural products, antioxidants obtained from algal and vegetal extracts are being proposed as antioxidants to be incorporated into formulations. Thus, the development of reliable, quick and economic in vitro methods to study the cytoactivity of these products is a meaningful requirement.

Characterization, refining and antioxidant activity of saccharides derived from hemicelluloses of wood and rice husks.

Samples of rice husks, Eucalyptus globulus wood and Pinus pinaster wood (containing arabinoxylan, acetylated glucuronoxylan and acetylated glucomannan as major hemicellulose components, respectively) were subjected to autohydrolysis. The resulting liquid phases, containing mainly hemicellulose-derived saccharides, were refined by physicochemical methods to reduce their contents of monosaccharides and non-saccharide compounds. Raw autohydrolysis liquors and refined concentrates coming from aqueous treatments were assayed for antioxidant activity using the following assays: reducing power (FRAP), DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity and protection of β-carotene-linoleic emulsions from oxidation.

Potential use of Cytisus scoparius extracts in topical applications for skin protection against oxidative damage.

Cytisus scoparius L. is used in folk medicine for the treatment of several ailments in which the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of its carotenoid and flavonoid content is suggested to play an important role. We postulate that flavonoid- and carotenoid-rich extracts from C.

Induction of laccase activity in the white rot fungus Pleurotus ostreatus using water polluted with wheat straw extracts.

The purpose of this work was to explore the use of polluted water effluents from wheat straw using industries as inducers of lignocellulolytic enzymatic activities in cultures of white rot basidiomycetes. For this purpose, we studied the effect of a wheat straw water extract on the evolution of the laccase activity recovered from submerged cultures of Pleurotus ostreatus made in different media and under various culture conditions. Our results demonstrated an accumulative induction effect in all the cultures and conditions tested.

In vitro antioxidant properties of crude extracts and compounds from brown algae.

Research on the bioactives from seaweeds has increased in recent years. Antioxidant activity is one of the most studied, due to the interest of these compounds both as preservatives and protectors against oxidation in food and cosmetics and also due to their health implications, mainly in relation to their potential as functional ingredients. Brown algae present higher antioxidant potential in comparison with red and green families and contain compounds not found in terrestrial sources.

Recovery and concentration of antioxidants from winery wastes.

Grape and wine byproducts have been extensively studied for the recovery of phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity and a variety of biological actions. The selective recovery and concentration of the phenolic compounds from the liquid phase separated from further diluted winery wastes has been proposed. Adsorption onto non ionic polymeric resins and further desorption with ethanolic solutions was studied.

Purified phenolics from hydrothermal treatments of biomass: ability to protect sunflower bulk oil and model food emulsions from oxidation.

The phenolic fractions released during hydrothermal treatment of selected feedstocks (corn cobs, eucalypt wood chips, almond shells, chestnut burs, and white grape pomace) were selectively recovered by extraction with ethyl acetate and washed with ethanol/water solutions. The crude extracts were purified by a relatively simple adsorption technique using a commercial polymeric, nonionic resin. Utilization of 96% ethanol as eluting agent resulted in 47.

Protective effect against oxygen reactive species and skin fibroblast stimulation of Couroupita guianensis leaf extracts.

In this study, hydroalcoholic leaf extracts of Couroupita guianensis were examined for antioxidant activity, phytochemical and total phenolic composition, stimulation of human skin fibroblast (HSF) proliferation and UV-absorption. The radical scavenging capacity, reducing power and protection against joint oxidation of linoleic acid and β-carotene bleaching oxidation in emulsion were used to evaluate the antioxidant activity. The results of this study strongly indicate in vitro antioxidant activity, which may be due to the presence of a high total phenolic content.

Fractionation of antioxidants from autohydrolysis of barley husks.

The liquid phase from nonisothermal autohydrolysis of barley husks was extracted with ethyl acetate and redissolved in ethanol to yield a crude extract (denoted BHEAE), which was subjected to further processing to enhance the antioxidant activity. A fractionation method, carried out for characterization purposes, consisted of the extraction of BHEAE with organic solvents of increasing polarity and further fractionation in Sephadex LH-20. Among the tested solvents, ethyl acetate allowed the highest yield, phenolic content, and antioxidant activity.