Submit to Molecules Review for Molecules Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Food Biophysics and Biochemistry

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 13468

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Polewski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Physics and Biophysics, Poznań University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Poznań, Poland
Interests: food biophysics; spectroscopic methods; nanostructures; antioxidant properties of plant extracts
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Dorota Piasecka-Kwiatkowska

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Head of Department of Food Biochemistry and Analysis, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznan, Poland
Interests: food allergens; enzymes; inhibitors; immunoassay

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues

This Special Issue on Food Biophysics and Biochemistry will be focused on recent developments in physical methods and instrumental techniques applied to determination of food properties and aims at publishing new and emerging knowledge of food biochemistry.

Biochemistry brings together biology and chemistry, explaining the chemical processes within and related to living organisms. It helps to explain detailed composition of foods, and food components that have beneficial or adverse effects on human health. Food biochemistry in generally deals with substances such as enzymes, carbohydrates, amino acids, fats, proteins, hormones, nucleic acids, polyphenols, etc.

Food is a varied, very complex biological matrix consisting of different ingredients that interact with each other. Considering that, food biochemistry gives a holistic view on the nutritional role of various compounds of food, letting us discover new bioactive compounds and apply biophysical methods to determine its properties and mechanisms of interactions.

We welcome both original research and reviews addressing the following problems:

Subtopics for biochemistry: biochemical and biophysics methods in food analysis, bioactive compounds influencing nutraceutical properties of food, nutrigenomics, biochemical changes of postharvest with connection to food processing and quality, properties of fermented foods, starch biochemistry and quality of food, lipid metabolism and human health, nutritional biochemistry of vitamins

Subtopics for biophysics: new physical methods, instrumental techniques and software in food analysis, authentication and contamination, application of nanostructures (quantum dots, liposomes, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide) in label-free analytical methods for foods, development of new packing materials with signaling properties, applications of rheology methods in the investigation of properties of new products such as nano- and micro-gels, influence of plant and herbal extracts on food antioxidant properties and their potential health effects, reviews on topics listed above

Prof. Krzysztof Polewski
Dr. Dorota Piasecka-Kwiatkowska
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

fluorescence
DSC
FTIR
structure
rheology
antioxidants
complex composition
inhomogeneous system
spectroscopy
soft matter
food storage
phase transition
quantum dot
liposomes

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

26 pages, 5721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antioxidants Isolated from Elaeagnus umbellata (Thunb.) Protect against Bacterial Infections and Diabetes in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rat Model

by Nausheen Nazir, Muhammad Zahoor, Mohammad Nisar, Imran Khan, Riaz Ullah and Amal Alotaibi

Molecules 2021, 26(15), 4464; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26154464 - 24 Jul 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2540

Abstract

The increase in resistance of microbes against conventional drugs is currently a hot issue, whereas diabetes is another main cause of mortalities encountered throughout the world after cancer and heart attacks. New drug sources in the form of plants are investigated to get effective drugs for the mentioned diseases with minimum side effects. Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb. is a medicinal plant used for the management of stress related disorders like diabetes and other health complications. The active constituents of the chloroform extract derived from E. umbellata berries was isolated by silica gel column chromatography which were identified as morin, phloroglucinol, and 1-hexyl benzene through various spectroscopic techniques (electron ionization mass spectrometry, 1H-NMR, and 13C-NMR spectroscopy). The possible protective effects (antioxidant, antibacterial, and antidiabetic activity) of isolated compounds were evaluated using reported methods. Morin exhibited strong in vitro antiradical potential against DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radicals along with prominent antibacterial activities against selected bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis). Among the isolated compounds the more potent one (morin) was assessed for its in vivo antidiabetic potential in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat model. The in vivo effects observed were further confirmed in ex vivo experiments where the effect of isolated compound on antioxidant enzyme like glutathione peroxidase (GPx), total content of reduced glutathione (GSH), % DPPH inhibition, and the lipid peroxidation MDA (Malondialdehyde) level in pancreatic tissues homogenates were evaluated. In vivo morin at tested doses (2, 10, 15, 30 and 50 mg/kg body weight) significantly restored the alterations in the levels of fasting blood glucose level and body weight loss along with significant decrease in levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein, HbA1c level, and significantly increased the high-density lipoprotein in diabetic rats. Morin also effectively ameliorated the hepatic enzymes, and renal functions like serum creatinine. Morin significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme like GPx activity, GSH content, and % DPPH inhibition activity, while reduced the lipid peroxidation MDA (malondialdehyde) level in pancreatic tissues homogenates, and modification of histopathological changes in diabetic rats. Morin exhibited high antioxidant, antibacterial, and antidiabetic potentials as compared to phloroglucinol and 1-hexyl benzene, that could, therefore, be considered as a promising therapeutic agent to treat diabetes mellitus and bacterial infections. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Biophysics and Biochemistry)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 1311 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biomedical Applications of Scutellaria edelbergii Rech. f.: In Vitro and In Vivo Approach

by Muddaser Shah, Waheed Murad, Najeeb Ur Rehman, Sobia Ahsan Halim, Manzoor Ahmed, Hazir Rehman, Muhammed Zahoor, Sidra Mubin, Ajmal Khan, Mohamed A. Nassan, Gaber El-Saber Batiha and Ahmed Al-Harrasi

Molecules 2021, 26(12), 3740; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26123740 - 19 Jun 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2561

Abstract

In the current study, in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and in vivo anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Scutellaria edelbergii Rech. f. (crude extract and subfractions, i.e., n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), chloroform, n-butanol (n-BuOH) and aqueous) were explored. Initially, extraction and fractionation of the selected medicinal plant were carried out, followed by phytochemical qualitative tests, which were mostly positive for all the extracts. EtOAc fraction possessed a significant amount of phenolic (79.2 ± 0.30 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid (84.0 ± 0.39 mg QE/g) content. The EtOAc fraction of S. edelbergii exhibited appreciable antibacterial activity against Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae) strains and significant zones of inhibition were observed against Gram-positive bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus). However, it was found inactive against Candida Albicans and Fusarium oxysporum fungal strains. The chloroform fraction was the most effective with an IC₅₀ value of 172 and 74 µg/mL against DPPH (1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) and ABTS assays, in comparison with standard ascorbic acid 59 and 63 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the EtOAc fraction displayed significant in vivo anti-inflammatory activity (54%) using carrageenan-induced assay and significant (55%) in vivo analgesic activity using acetic acid-induced writing assay. In addition, nine known compounds, ursolic acid (UA), ovaul (OV), oleanolic acid (OA), β-sitosterol (BS), micromeric acid (MA), taraxasterol acetate (TA), 5,3′,4′-trihydroxy-7-methoxy flavone (FL-1), 5,7,4′-trihydroxy-6,3′-dimiethoxyflavone (FL-2) and 7-methoxy catechin (FL-3), were isolated from methanolic extract of S. edelbergii. These constituents have never been obtained from this source. The structures of all the isolated constituents were elucidated by spectroscopic means. In conclusion, the EtOAc fraction and all other fractions of S. edelbergii, in general, displayed a significant role as antibacterial, free radical scavenger, anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents which may be due to the presence of these constituents and other flavonoids. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Biophysics and Biochemistry)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 1249 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bio-Potency and Molecular Docking Studies of Isolated Compounds from Grewia optiva J.R. Drumm. ex Burret

by Wasim Ul Bari, Najeeb Ur Rehman, Ajmal Khan, Sobia Ahsan Halim, Ye Yuan, Mark A.T. Blaskovich, Zyta M. Ziora, Muhammad Zahoor, Sumaira Naz, Riaz Ullah, Amal Alotaibi and Ahmed Al-Harrasi

Molecules 2021, 26(7), 2019; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26072019 - 1 Apr 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2300

Abstract

In the study, two novel compounds along with two new compounds were isolated from Grewia optiva. The novel compounds have never been reported in any plant source, whereas the new compounds are reported for the first time from the studied plant. The four compounds were characterized as: 5,5,7,7,11,13-hexamethyl-2-(5-methylhexyl)icosahydro-1H-cyclopenta[a]chrysen-9-ol (IX), docosanoic acid (X), methanetriol mano formate (XI) and 2,2’-(1,4-phenylene)bis(3-methylbutanoic acid (XII). The anticholinesterase, antidiabetic, and antioxidant potentials of these compounds were determined using standard protocols. All the isolated compounds exhibited a moderate-to-good degree of activity against acetylcholinesterases (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). However, compound XII was particularly effective with IC₅₀ of 55 μg/mL (against AChE) and 60 μg/mL (against BChE), and this inhibitory activity is supported by in silico docking studies. The same compound was also effective against DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radicals with IC₅₀ values of 60 and 62 μg/mL, respectively. The compound also significantly inhibited the activities of α-amylase and α-glucosidase in vitro. The IC₅₀ values for inhibition of the two enzymes were recorded as 90 and 92 μg/mL, respectively. The in vitro potentials of compound XII to treat Alzheimer’s disease (in terms of AchE and BChE inhibition), diabetes (in terms of α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibition), and oxidative stress (in terms of free radical scavenging) suggest further in vivo investigations of the compound for assessing its efficacy, safety profile, and other parameters to proclaim the compound as a potential drug candidate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Biophysics and Biochemistry)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 4192 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comprehensive Thermal Characteristics of Different Cultivars of Flaxseed Oil (Linum usittatissimum L.)

by Jolanta Tomaszewska-Gras, Mahbuba Islam, Liliana Grzeca, Anna Kaczmarek and Emilia Fornal

Molecules 2021, 26(7), 1958; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26071958 - 31 Mar 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2207

Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe the thermal properties of selected cultivars of flaxseed oil by the use of the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. The crystallization and melting profiles were analyzed depending on different scanning rates (1, 2, 5 °C/min) as well as oxidative induction time (OIT) isothermally at 120 °C and 140 °C, and oxidation onset temperatures (Ton) at 2 and 5 °C/min were measured. The crystallization was manifested as a single peak, differing for a cooling rate of 1 and 2 °C/min. The melting curves were more complex with differences among the cultivars for a heating rate of 1 and 2 °C/min, while for 5 °C/min, the profiles did not differ, which could be utilized in analytics for profiling in order to assess the authenticity of the flaxseed oil. Moreover, it was observed that flaxseed oil was highly susceptible to thermal oxidation, and its stability decreased with increasing temperature and decreasing heating rate. Significant negative linear correlations were found between unsaturated fatty acid content (C18:2, C18:3 n-3) and DSC parameters (OIT, Ton). Principal component analysis (PCA) also established a strong correlation between total oxidation value (TOTOX), peroxide value (PV) and all DSC parameters of thermo-oxidative stability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Biophysics and Biochemistry)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4962 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Curative Effect of Catechin Isolated from Elaeagnus Umbellata Thunb. Berries for Diabetes and Related Complications in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats Model

by Nausheen Nazir, Muhammad Zahoor, Riaz Ullah, Essan Ezzeldin and Gamal A. E. Mostafa

Molecules 2021, 26(1), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26010137 - 30 Dec 2020

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 2761

Abstract

In this study, catechin (CTN) isolated from Elaeagnus umbellata was evaluated for in vitro antioxidant potential and inhibition of carbohydrate digestive enzymes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase). The compound was also tested for its in vivo antidiabetic potential using Sprague-Dawley rats as experimental animals. The effects of various doses of catechin in STZ (Streptozotocin) induced diabetic rats on fasting blood glucose level, body weight, lipid parameters, hepatic enzymes, and renal functions were evaluated using the reported protocols. The CTN exhibited the highest percent antioxidant for free radical scavenging activity against DPPH and ABTS free radicals, and inhibited the activity of carbohydrate digestive enzymes (with percent inhibition values: 79 ± 1.5% α-amylase and 80 ± 1.1% α-glucosidase). Administration CTN and standard glibenclamide significantly decreased the fasting blood glucose level and increased the body weight in STZ-induced diabetic rats. CTN significantly decreased the different lipid parameters, hepatic, and renal function enzyme levels along with Hb1c level in diabetic rats, while significantly increasing the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level with values comparable to the standard glibenclamide. Further, the altered levels of glutathione and lipid peroxides of liver and kidney tissues were restored (by CTN) to levels similar to the control group. CTN significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activities, total content of reduced glutathione, and reduced the malondialdehyde (MDA) level in rat liver and kidney tissues homogenates, and also corrected the histopathological abnormalities, suggesting its antioxidant potential. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Biophysics and Biochemistry)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Food Biophysics and Biochemistry

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (5 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI