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Onions contain valuable phytochemical compounds, including quercetin derivatives. This study explores the potential of onion extract as a natural additive in chicken patties. The optimized conditions involved sonication at 80% for 5 min with a 75% ethanol concentration. The onion extract exhibited total phenolic and flavonoid compound values of 255.63 mg GAE g-1 DR and 196.87 mg QE g-1 DR, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the onion extract was characterized by an IC50 of 12.74 µg/mL. This onion extract was dominated by quercetin derivatives (quercetin 4'-O-ß-glycoside and quercetin-3-O-ß-glycoside and quercetin-3,4'-O-ß-diglycoside). Chicken patties treated with 2% onion extract exhibited superior pH stability, lowest thiobarbituric acid reactive substances level (0.40 mg/kg) and peroxide index (0.77 mEq O2/kg meat) and maintained color stability. Comparative analysis with BHT demonstrated the efficacy of onion extract in reducing lipid oxidation. These findings highlight the potential of a 2% onion extract as effective ingredient for enhancing the quality of chicken products.

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Tetraclinis articulata essential oil proved to be effective in controlling tomato grey mould, so we would investigate its effect on some tomato defense mechanisms. The pretreatment of Botrytis cinerea infected tomato plants with TAEO emulsion enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes activity SOD, CAT, APX, and GPX, and total polyphenols content and it decreased IC50 of free radical-scavenging activity and H2O2 content. Results showed amelioration in antioxidant status in TAEO emulsion treated and B. cinerea infected plants indicating that treatment decreased infection in tomato plants. The qRT-PCR analysis of defense genes expression Chitinase SlChi, transcription factors SlWRKY and SlAP2/ERF, Lipoxygenase SlLOX, and Thioredoxin SlTRX showed that they were up-regulated as early as 12 hpi sustained with a second increase at 48 hpi in TAEO emulsion pretreated and infected plants. These results suggest the potential use of TAEO emulsion as natural product to induce tomato antioxidant status and activate defense genes.

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PURPOSE: Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease found in tropical areas, and it affects up to 12 million individuals globally. Chemotherapies now available include drawbacks such as toxicity, high cost, and parasite resistance. This work aimed to evaluate the antileishmanial properties of essential oils (EOs) extracted from aerial parts of Cupressus sempervirens (C. sempervirens), Tetraclinis articulata (T. articulata), and Pistacia lentiscus (P. lentiscus) trees. METHODS: The EOs were obtained by hydro-distillation, and chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry at three phenological stages. The EOs were evaluated in vitro for antileishmanial activities against Leishmania major (L. major) and Leishmania infantum (L. infantum). The cytotoxicity effect was also tested against murine macrophagic cells (Raw264.7 lines). RESULTS: Results showed that P. lentiscus and T. articulata EOs presented low and moderate antileishmanial activity against L. infantum and L. major. However, C. sempervirens EO from the fructification stage gave an important selectivity index (23.89 and 18.96 against L. infantum and L. major, respectively). This activity was more interesting than those of amphotericin chemical drugs. Antileishmanial activity for this EO was highly correlated with germacrene D content (r = 1.00). This compound presented a SI equal to 13.34 and 10.38 for the two strains. According to the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the distribution of the three phenological stages proved that the chemical composition of the EOs affected the antileishmanial activity. PCA revealed that SI was positively correlated with α-pinene, germacrene D and the sesquiterpene hydrocarbon class. Cupressus sempervirens EO can provide a source of germacrene D that can be used as a new alternative to chemical drugs for the treatment of antileishmanial diseases. CONCLUSION: C. sempervirens EO seemed to be a highly active antileishmanial agent and a natural alternative for chemical drugs to treat several leishmanial strains.

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The methanolic extracts of cypress (Cupressus sempervirens L.) collected at three phenological stages were evaluated for their cytotoxicity on Vero cells by MTT test as well as on Herpes simplex (HSV-2) and coxsackie (CVB-3) viruses by plaque reduction assay. The methanolic extract exhibited the highest cytotoxicity against HSV-2 (IC50 = 20.40 µg/mL) and CVB-3 (IC50 = 47.50 µg/mL) at the flowering stage. This extract also exhibited a virucidal action both during the entry of viruses and the release of newly formed virions. The methanolic extract bioguided purification showed that the ethyl-acetate fraction was responsible for virucidal activity. This fraction was endowed with more important selectivity index of 8.15 for HSV-2 and 4.40 for CVB-3. The ethyl acetate fraction was subjected to thin layer chromatography fractionation and identification by HPLC-DAD-ESI-MSn. Results showed that the condensed tannin procyanidin B2 was identified for the first time responsible of the antiviral activity of cypress.

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INTRODUCTION: The consumption of health-promoting products such as oil seeds may improve human health and prevent certain diseases. Carvi seeds have the potential to produce oil with nutritional and functional properties rich in active compounds. OBJECTIVE: To extract bioactive lipids from Carum carvi seeds using green methodologies. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Supercritical-carbon dioxide (Sc-CO2 ) and ethanol as co-solvent and bio-based solvent 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MeTHF) were used to extract the oil from Carum carvi. The yield, the chemical composition, as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of green extracted oils were investigated and compared to those obtained with conventional methods (hexane and Folch system). RESULTS: MeTHF extraction gave higher oil yield than that obtained by hexane. Fatty acids composition of the two obtained green extracted oils was similar to conventional extracted ones where petroselinic (39-43%), linoleic (29-31%) and oleic (19-21%) acids were the major compounds. Furthermore, MeTHF and Sc-CO2 green extracted oils were enriched of bioactive compounds including sterols (5.4 and 7.3 mg/g oil) and total polyphenols (9.3 and 7.6 mg GAE/g oil) which were correlated to enhanced antiradical capacity. Moreover, the green extracted oils exhibited high anti-inflammatory capacity inhibiting nitric oxide (NO) release in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages with IC50 values of 28 and 24 µg/mL. CONCLUSION: Green solvents are a good alternative to petroleum solvents to recover oil from carvi seeds with high amount of nutritionally important fatty acids, along with significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential.

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Phytosterols are bioactive components of all vegetable foods. Their most studied and outstanding properties being their cholesterol-lowering activity. This property has led to the development of functional foods enriched with plant sterols. In the present study, total and conjugated sterols of Tunisian safflower seeds were investigated and their kinetic of accumulation was surveyed during the ripening stages. The results obtained revealed that total and individual phytosterols were actively accumulated during the first stages of seed development then their levels decreased until full maturity. In the other hand, the sterol profile was marked by the predominance of beta-sitosterol during all ripening stages. As for Free Sterols (FS) and Esterified Sterols (ES), they were the major components and were actively accumulated from the beginning of seed development. Nevertheless, their amounts decreased at the end of maturity while Steryl Glycosides (SG) and acylated sterylglycosides (ASG) were practically stable during the ripening of seeds.

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