The therapeutic properties of plants have been recognised since time immemorial. Many pathological conditions have been treated using plant-derived medicines. These medicines are used as concoctions or concentrated plant extracts without isolation of active compounds. Modern medicine however, requires the isolation and purification of one or two active compounds. There are however a lot of global health challenges with diseases such as cancer, degenerative diseases, HIV/AIDS and diabetes, of which modern medicine is struggling to provide cures. Many times the isolation of “active compound” has made the compound ineffective. Drug discovery is a multidimensional problem requiring several parameters of both natural and synthetic compounds such as safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy to be evaluated during drug candidate selection. The advent of latest technologies that enhance drug design hypotheses such as Artificial Intelligence, the use of ‘organ-on chip’ and microfluidics technologies, means that automation has become part of drug discovery. This has resulted in increased speed in drug discovery and evaluation of the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of candidate compounds whilst allowing novel ways of drug design and synthesis based on natural compounds. Recent advances in analytical and computational techniques have opened new avenues to process complex natural products and to use their structures to derive new and innovative drugs. Indeed, we are in the era of computational molecular design, as applied to natural products. Predictive computational softwares have contributed to the discovery of molecular targets of natural products and their derivatives. In future the use of quantum computing, computational softwares and databases in modelling molecular interactions and predicting features and parameters needed for drug development, such as pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics, will result in few false positive leads in drug development. This review discusses plant-based natural product drug discovery and how innovative technologies play a role in next-generation drug discovery.

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/19/6/1578/pdf/1

Natural Products for Drug Discovery in the 21st Century: Innovations for Novel Drug Discovery.

Determination of bioactive compounds content directly from foodstuff is not enough for the prediction of potential in vivo effects, as metabolites reaching the blood system may be different from the original compounds found in food, as a result of an intensive metabolism that takes place during absorption. Nutritional efficacy of food products may be ensured by the determination of bioaccessibility, which provides valuable information in order to select the appropriate dosage and source of food matrices. However, between all the methods available, there is a need to establish the best approach for the assessment of specific compounds. Comparison between in vivo and in vitro procedures used to determine bioaccessibility and bioavailability is carried out, taking into account the strengths and limitations of each experimental technique, along with an intensive description of actual approaches applied to assess bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds. Applications of these methods for specific bioactive compound's bioaccessibility or bioavailability are also discussed, considering studies regarding the bioavailability of carotenoids, polyphenolic compounds, glucosinolates, vitamin E, and phytosterols.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1541-4337.12049

Analytical Methods for Determining Bioavailability and Bioaccessibility of Bioactive Compounds from Fruits and Vegetables: A Review

Carotenoids from microalgae: A review of recent developments.

The purpose of this review is to give the reader a thorough background to the fundamentals and applications of pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) for the analysis of bioactive compounds. We summarize the field in the period 2009-14, and include fundamentals of water as a solvent: equipment; method optimization; applications; coupling; and, future prospects. We highlight that solvent properties of water are tunable by changing the temperature, particularly self-ionization, dielectric constant, viscosity, diffusivity, density and surface tension. Furthermore, important aspects to consider are the risk of degradation of the analytes and other potential reactions, such as hydrolysis, caramelization and Maillard reactions that may lead to erroneous results. For the extraction of bioactive compounds, we report PHWE methods based on using water of 80-175 degrees C and short extraction times. In conclusion, PHWE provides advantages over conventional extraction methods, such as being "greener", faster and more efficient. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. (Less)

/pdf/pressurized-hot-water-extraction-of-bioactives-7ky1077snh.pdf

Pressurized hot water extraction of bioactives

A biostimulant is an organic material that, when applied in small quantities, enhances plant growth and development such that the response cannot be attributed to the application of traditional plant nutrients. This review is aimed at highlighting developments in the processing of macroalgae for agricultural biostimulants (AB), summarising the biologically active components of brown macroalgae and examining the factors supporting the use of macroalgal AB for managing abiotic and biotic stresses in crop plants. The policy drivers supporting the use of macroalgal-derived ABs in agriculture are also emphasised. We examine the use of macroalgal ABs in crop production and evaluated the benefits of seed priming, foliar application, soil drenches and hydroponic treatments. The use of macroalgal ABs on crop plants can generate multiple benefits with reported effects including enhanced rooting, higher crop and fruit yields, freezing, drought and salt tolerance, enhanced photosynthetic activity and resistance to fungi, bacteria and virus. ABs can be applied as an alternative, or used in conjunction with synthetic crop protection products and plant growth regulators, and may have a role in maintaining crop production levels, health and quality in the future when many active ingredients will be lost to the industry due to changes in European Union regulations. Worldwide, macroalgae remain largely unexploited, we highlight some of the future research and development priorities.

Plant biostimulants: a review on the processing of macroalgae and use of extracts for crop management to reduce abiotic and biotic stresses

Natural bioactive compounds include a broad diversity of structures and functionalities that provide an excellent pool of molecules for the production of nutraceuticals, functional foods, and food additives. Some of those compounds can be found in nature at high concentration such as polyphenols but others can only be found at very low levels, so that massive harvesting is needed to obtain sufficient amounts, and their structural diversity and complexity make chemical synthesis unprofitable. The inherent difficulties in screening and producing these compounds have led to the development of advanced technologies. The commonly used methods for their extraction are the conventional liquid–liquid or solid–liquid extraction and the advanced include pressurized-liquid extraction, subcritical and supercritical extractions, and microwave- and ultrasound-assisted extractions. In addition, these extraction techniques have been improved with previous steps (enzyme-and instant controlled pressure drop-assisted extractions) which help to release the compounds from the matrix. These technologies could provide in the next few years an innovative approach to increase the production of specific compounds for use as nutraceuticals or as ingredients in the design of functional foods.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1541-4337.12005

Technologies for Extraction and Production of Bioactive Compounds to be Used as Nutraceuticals and Food Ingredients: An Overview

August 2012. Mangoes are an important worldwide tropical fruit and are best noted for their color, juicy texture, and sweet flavor, along with important phytochemical constituents. Phenolic compounds influence the organoleptic quality of fruits and provide health benefits thanks to their antioxidant capacity. Mango cultivars differ in their content of antioxidant components due preharvest factors including climatic conditions, agricultural practices, and geographical localization. However, food composition databases never take into consideration the fact that concentrations of nutrients and their activity may change through cooking practices such as blanching. The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of blanching and the geographical growing area on physiological and antioxidant parameters of ‘Tommy atkins’ mango fruits. They were harvested at the physiologically ripe stage in two regions. Two groups were established: blanching treatment and control fresh fruits. Chemical properties and antioxidant evaluations were determined. The blanching treatment showed positive effect on fruit from both regions increasing the antioxidant constituents. Also, the geographical origin presented influence on the antioxidant parameters. We concluded that hot treatment like blanching is a recommended practice to increase the antioxidant status of mango fresh produces. Therefore, ‘Tommy’ mango should be considered a good source of these compounds providing important health benefits. Key words

http://globalresearchjournals.org/fullarticles/51404cb141260.pdf

José A. Villa

Papers

Technologies for Extraction and Production of Bioactive Compounds to be Used as Nutraceuticals and Food Ingredients: An Overview

Antioxidant constituents and chemical properties of 'Tommy atkins' Mango grown in Campeche, México.