3'sialyllactose and 6'sialyllactose enhance performance in endurance-type exercise through metabolic adaptation.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) belong to a group of multifunctional glycans that are abundantly present in human breast milk. While health effects of neutral oligosaccharides have been investigated extensively, a lot remains unknown regarding health effects of acidic oligosaccharides, such as the two sialyllactoses (SLs), 3'sialyllactose (3'SL), and 6'sialyllactose (6'SL). We utilized () to investigate the effects of SLs on exercise performance.

Synergistic Inhibiting Effect of Phytochemicals in on Tyrosinase Based on Metabolomics and Isobologram Analyses.

Tyrosinase (TYR) plays a key role in the enzymatic reaction that is responsible for a range of unwanted discoloration effects, such as food browning and skin hyperpigmentation. TYR inhibitors could, therefore, be candidates for skin care products that aim to repair pigmentation problems. In this study, we used a metabolomics approach combined with the isobologram analysis to identify anti-TYR compounds within natural resources, and evaluate their possible synergism with each other.

C. elegans as a test system to study relevant compounds that contribute to the specific health-related effects of different cannabis varieties.

Background: The medicinal effects of cannabis varieties on the market cannot be explained solely by the presence of the major cannabinoids Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). Evidence for putative entourage effects caused by other compounds present in cannabis is hard to obtain due to the subjective nature of patient experience data. Caenorhabditis elegans (C.

Extracting relevant physiological information from polar auxin transport data in Panax ginseng.

Background: Measuring polar auxin transport (PAT) in plants and drawing conclusions from the observed transport data is only meaningful if these data are being analysed with a mathematical model which describes PAT. In this report we studied the polar auxin transport in Panax ginseng stems of different age and grown on different substrates.

Methods: We measured polar IAA transport in stems using a radio labelled IAA and analysed the transport data with a mathematical model we developed for Arabidopsis.

Characterization of ginsenoside extracts by delayed luminescence, high-performance liquid chromatography, and bioactivity tests.

Ginsenoside extracts are often used as raw materials for various pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food supplement products. Development of a direct, rapid, cheap, and comprehensive measurement tool for the quality assessment of ginsenoside extracts, and indeed all herbal extracts, is urgently needed. In addition, a bioactivity-based assessment should be linked with quality control.

Broad range chemical profiling of natural deep eutectic solvent extracts using a high performance thin layer chromatography-based method.

Natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) made mainly with abundant primary metabolites are being increasingly applied in green chemistry. The advantages of NADES as green solvents have led to their use in novel green products for the food, cosmetics and pharma markets. However, one of the main difficulties encountered in the development of novel products and their quality control arises from their low vapour pressure and high viscosity.

Plant-derived food ingredients for stimulation of energy expenditure.

The development of obesity is related to the regulation of energy intake, energy expenditure, and energy storage in the body. Increasing energy expenditure by inducing lipolysis followed by fat oxidation is one of the alternatives which could help to reverse this increasingly widespread condition. Currently, there is no approved drug targeting on stimulation of energy expenditure available.

Red wines attenuate TNFα production in human histiocytic lymphoma cell line: an NMR spectroscopy and chemometrics based study.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and multivariate data analyses methods are applied to the metabolic profiling of different red wines from Portugal. The water, methanol-water (1:1), and methanol fractions from solid phase extraction (SPE) with C18 resin were subjected to in vitro TNFα activity assay. Principal component analysis allowed the clear separation among the different SPE fractions according to the activity.

NMR spectroscopy and chemometrics as a tool for anti-TNFα activity screening in crude extracts of grapes and other berries.

The identification of active ingredients in crude plant extracts offers great advantages. In this study, nuclear magnetic resonance and chemometrics were used for the screening of in vitro anti-TNFα activity in different berry types. Solid phase extraction was applied and the resulting water, methanol-water (1:1), and methanol fractions were tested for the activity.

Lipidomics reveals multiple pathway effects of a multi-components preparation on lipid biochemistry in ApoE*3Leiden.CETP mice.

Background: Causes and consequences of the complex changes in lipids occurring in the metabolic syndrome are only partly understood. Several interconnected processes are deteriorating, which implies that multi-target approaches might be more successful than strategies based on a limited number of surrogate markers. Preparations from Chinese Medicine (CM) systems have been handed down with documented clinical features similar as metabolic syndrome, which might help developing new intervention for metabolic syndrome.

Screening of selected Asian spices for anti obesity-related bioactivities.

The potential health effects of 30 spices, commonly used for daily consumption, were submitted to bioactivity screening with several anti-obesity related bioassays: adenosine A1 receptor binding, cannabinoid CB1 receptor binding, TNF-α and 3T3-L1 adipocytes differentiation induction. Sesame seed and red chilli exhibited high binding activity to the adenosine A1 receptor and nutmeg, mace, black pepper and turmeric to the cannabinoid CB1 receptor, while piment and turmeric showed high inhibition of TNF-α accumulation. Black onion seed proved to be the only spice with high 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation induction activity.

Unheated Cannabis sativa extracts and its major compound THC-acid have potential immuno-modulating properties not mediated by CB1 and CB2 receptor coupled pathways.

There is a great interest in the pharmacological properties of cannabinoid like compounds that are not linked to the adverse effects of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), e.g. psychoactive properties.

The RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED gene regulates stem cell maintenance in Arabidopsis roots.

The maintenance of stem cells in defined locations is crucial for all multicellular organisms. Although intrinsic factors and signals for stem cell fate have been identified in several species, it has remained unclear how these connect to the ability to reenter the cell cycle that is one of the defining properties of stem cells. We show that local reduction of expression of the RETINOBLASTOMA-RELATED (RBR) gene in Arabidopsis roots increases the amount of stem cells without affecting cell cycle duration in mitotically active cells.

Metabolomics in the context of systems biology: bridging traditional Chinese medicine and molecular pharmacology.

The introduction of the concept of systems biology, enabling the study of living systems from a holistic perspective based on the profiling of a multitude of biochemical components, opens up a unique and novel opportunity to reinvestigate natural products. In the study of their bioactivity, the necessary reductionistic approach on single active components has been successful in the discovery of new medicines, but at the same time the synergetic effects of components were lost. Systems biology, and especially metabolomics, is the ultimate phenotyping.

Programmed cell death during the transition from multicellular structures to globular embryos in barley androgenesis.

Androgenesis represents one of the most fascinating examples of cell differentiation in plants. In barley, the conversion of stressed uninucleate microspores into embryo-like structures is highly efficient. One of the bottlenecks in this process is the successful release of embryo-like structures out of the exine wall of microspores.

14-3-3 proteins and plant development.

The 14-3-3 proteins are a family of ubiquitous regulatory molecules which have been found in virtually every eukaryotic organism and tissue. Discovered 34 years ago, 14-3-3 proteins have first been studied in mammalian nervous tissues, but in the past decade their indispensable role in various plant regulatory and metabolic pathways has been increasingly established. We now know that 14-3-3 members regulate fundamental processes of nitrogen assimilation and carbon assimilation, play an auxiliary role in regulation of starch synthesis, ATP production, peroxide detoxification, and participate in modulation of several other important biochemical pathways.

A tormentor in the quest for plant p53-like proteins.

Over the past few years the presence of p53-like proteins in plants was frequently reported, by using the monoclonal antibody Pab240. By means of protein purification and screening a cDNA library, a Pab240 cross-reacting protein and a cDNA clone were isolated from barley. Peptide- and DNA-sequence analysis identified one and the same protein: 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase.