Eight selected wild vegetables from Nepal (Alternanthera sessilis, Basella alba, Cassia tora, Digera muricata, Ipomoea aquatica, Leucas cephalotes, Portulaca oleracea and Solanum nigrum) were investigated for their antioxidative potential using 2,2-dyphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and ferric thiocyanate (FTC) methods. Among the selected plant extracts C. tora displayed the highest DPPH radical scavenging activity with an IC50 value 9.898 μg/mL, whereas A. sessilis had the maximum H2O2 scavenging activity with an IC50 value 16.25 μg/mL—very close to that of ascorbic acid (16.26 μg/mL). C. tora showed the highest absorbance in the FRAP assay and the lowest lipid peroxidation in the FTC assay. A methanol extract of A. sessilis resulted in the greatest phenolic content (292.65 ± 0.42 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g) measured by the Folin–Ciocalteu reagent method, while the smallest content was recorded for B. alba (72.66 ± 0.46 GAE/g). The greatest flavonoid content was observed with extracts of P. oleracea (39.38 ± 0.57 mg quercetin equivalents (QE)/g) as measured by an aluminium chloride colorimetric method, while the least was recorded for I. aquatica (6.61 ± 0.42 QE/g). There was a strong correlation between antioxidant activity with total phenolic (DPPH, R2 = 0.75; H2O2, R2 = 0.71) and total flavonoid content (DPPH, R2 = 0.84; H2O2, R2 = 0.66). This study demonstrates that these wild edible leafy plants could be a potential source of natural antioxidants.

Total Phenolic Content, Flavonoid Content and Antioxidant Potential of Wild Vegetables from Western Nepal.

Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi) is a popular medicinal mushroom and has been used in oriental medicine because of its promoting effects on health and life expectancy. G. lucidum contains various compounds with a high grade of biological activty, which increase the immunity and show antitumour, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity. Several of these substances belong to the triterpenoids and polysaccharides classes. Proteins, lipids, phenols, sterols, etc. are also present. In the present review, an extensive overview of the presence of antitumour, antimicrobial, antioxidant and antiacetylcholinesterase compounds in G. lucidum extracts will be given, along with an evaluation of their therapeutic effects.

Antitumour, Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Antiacetylcholinesterase Effect of Ganoderma Lucidum Terpenoids and Polysaccharides: A Review

Isolation, structures and bioactivities of the polysaccharides from jujube fruit (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.): A review.

Background Polysaccharides are a kind of biological macromolecular substance with multiple biological effects. Natural polysaccharides derived from plants and fungi are known as ideal raw food supplements for health food and pharmaceuticals due to their few side effects. Sulfated modification could significantly improve structure characteristics, promote bioactivities, and even add new bioactivities to polysaccharides. Thus, sulfated polysaccharides are increasingly causing more attention, as they have been proved to possess a variety of biological activities, including antioxidant, anticancer, and immunoregulatory, and anticoagulant activities. Furthermore, recent advances in synthesis, characterization and bioactivities of sulfated polysaccharides can promote its application in the food industry or pharmaceutics. Scope and approach This paper reviewed the main methods of sulfated modification, structural changes and the bioactivities of sulfated polysaccharide derivatives. We have comprehensively discussed biological activities of sulfated polysaccharides, emphatically the effects of sulfated group, composition, functional groups, as well as their replaced position on the bioactivities of sulfated polysaccharides, in order to reveal the potential mechanism of sulfation on bioactivities of polysaccharides. Key findings and conclusions This paper reviewed the recent research in the sulfated modification of polysaccharides and provided future directions for research in this area. There are many methods for sulfated modification, such as chlorosulfonic acid-pyridine method, concentrated sulfuric acid method, and sulfur trioxide-pyridine method, which could improve anti-coagulant, anti-oxidative, immunoregulation, anti-tumor, and anti-virus activities of polysaccharides. Sulfated modification could change bioactivities of polysaccharides due to their effects on structure characteristics. DS, monosaccharide compositions, replaced position of sulfated groups were considered to contribute to their bioactivities promotion. Further studies are required to explore the application of sulfated polysaccharides in pharmaceutical and food industries.

Sulfated modification of polysaccharides: Synthesis, characterization and bioactivities

Effects of extraction methods on the physicochemical characteristics and biological activities of polysaccharides from okra (Abelmoschus esculentus).

It is widely acknowledged that the excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) or reactive nitrogen species (RNS) induced oxidative stress will cause significant damage to cell structure and biomolecular function, directly or indirectly leading to a number of diseases The overproduction of ROS/RNS will be balanced by nonenzymatic antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes Polysaccharide or glycoconjugates derived from natural products are of considerable interest from the viewpoint of potent in vivo and in vitro antioxidant activities recently Particularly, with regard to the in vitro antioxidant systems, polysaccharides are considered as effective free radical scavenger, reducing agent, and ferrous chelator in most of the reports However, the underlying mechanisms of these antioxidant actions have not been illustrated systematically and sometimes controversial results appeared among various literatures To address this issue, we summarized the latest discoveries and advancements in the study of antioxidative polysaccharides and gave a detailed description of the possible mechanisms

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Shuzhen Hu

Papers

Reviews on Mechanisms of In Vitro Antioxidant Activity of Polysaccharides

In vitro evaluation of the antioxidant activities of carbohydrates