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Prunus dulcis is one of the most widely cultivated species in the world. Its fruit (almond) is rich in various nutritious and bioactive compounds that exert several beneficial effects. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical profile and evaluate the biological potential in vitro of almond shell extracts. The chemical analysis of shell extracts led to the identification of 15 compounds by HPLC-DAD, of which 11 were first detected in the almond plant. Twenty-six volatile compounds were identified by the GC-MS technique; among them, seven were firstly detected in the studied plant. For the biological activities, the extracts demonstrated moderate inhibition potential against the antioxidant, antidiabetic, and cytotoxic activities. The methanol extract at 50 µg/mL showed the highest antioxidant (45%) and antidiabetic activities (45% against alpha-glucosidase and 31% against alpha-amylase extracts), while the cyclohexane and dichloromethane at 50 µg/mL showed the highest cytotoxic activity towards Hela (32.2% with cyclohexane) and RAW 264-7 (45% with dichloromethane). Overall, these findings demonstrate the potential of almond shell extracts as a source of bioactive compounds that could be applied in the pharmaceutical and medical fields.

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This study examined potential of the extracts obtained from the byproducts generated at commercial pecan nut-shelling operations in cancer treatment. The subcritical water extracts obtained from two varieties, Native and Pawnee, were analyzed for their phenolic contents and compositions. Effects of the extracts on viability and IC50 of the human cell lines representing a broad range of cancer types, cervical, lung, skin, breast, colon and prostate cancers, were investigated. Although the effect of the temperature on the phenolic contents and compositions of the extracts was not statistically significant, the influence of the variety was extensive. The pecan shell extracts were not cytotoxic to the healthy cell line Vero in the concentration range examined. Some of the pecan shell extracts had greater efficay than Doxorubicin, a drug used in cancer chemotherapy, in reducing cancer cell viability. This study is novel and practical implications of the data generated in this study are noteworthy, because this is the first report on the beneficial effects of subcritical water extracts obtained from pecan shelling industry byproducts on a broad range of cancer cell lines. It is likely that the experimental data presented in this study will support and encourage future research on the biological pathways involved in the interactions of the cancer cells and the extracts. The findings of this study will facilitate research on downstream processing and purification of the crude extracts exhibiting high cancer cell cytotoxcity, potentially improving the final product efficacy and lead to commercial applications.

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In this study, the antioxidant ability of peanut shell and skin extracts and their effects on the physical and structure properties of starch-chitosan film were investigated. The results showed that the DPPH radical scavenging ability of peanut skin extracts was significantly higher than the peanut shell extracts. This could be due to the rich rutin and 4-O-caffeoulquinic acid existed in the peanut skin extracts. When added the peanut skin and shell extracts into the starch-chitosan film, the apparent viscosity of film forming solution at 100 s-1 decreased. Moreover, water vapor permeability and swelling of film decreased with the addition of peanut skin and shell extracts. Two peanut extracts also increased the color L* and opacity of film. The tensile strength of film increased with the addition of peanut skin extracts, and decreased with peanut shell extracts. The addition of two extracts also resulted in the increase of endothermic temperature of starch-chitosan film. But there were no new peaks appeared in the FTIR image. Only the peaks at 3276 cm-1, 1382 cm-1, 1249 cm-1 shifted to 3273 cm-1, 1385 cm-1 and 1258 cm-1, which implied the peanut shell and skin extracts disturbed the hydrogen bond and vibration of molecular chain in film matrix.

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Glyphosate is a common herbicide used worldwide, but its adjuvant has not been studied much. A new adjuvant A-178®, based on the coconut shell extracts, has been developed for glyphosate (glyphosate isopropylamine salt: GP). The potency of the new adjuvant was compared with traditional adjuvant polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA). Field study has shown that A-178® can improve the herbicidal effect of GP formulation, and, as compared with 41% GP mixed with 7% POEA (GPP), 41% GP mixed with 7% A-178® (recommended dose, GPA) is more effective for weed control. GPA improved herbicidal activity against GP alone by 79.27% and against GPP by 27.38% at 500 g a.i./ha. A-178® decreased the surface tension, increased the spreading area of GP, and improved the uptake of GP in cockspur (Echinochloa crus-galli L.). Our results indicated that the new adjuvant shows better ability to improve glyphosate efficacy than does POEA.

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Microalgae are a promising biofuel resource, but their high cost and low productivity hinder their commercial applications. In the present study, Monoraphidium sp. QLZ-3 was cultivated in walnut shell extracts (WSE) supplemented with carbon dioxide (CO2). Biomass was enhanced from 0.40 g L-1 to 1.18 g L-1, and lipid content reached 49.54% in WSE-12% CO2 media. Biomass and lipid productivity reached 196.88 and 97.52 mg L-1 d-1, which were 1.33- and 1.57-fold higher than those of the control, respectively. The amount of carbohydrates increased, but the protein contents decreased. Furthermore, the application of CO2 promoted nutrient and polyphenol absorption and upregulated the expression levels of lipid biosynthetic genes of this WSE-cultivated alga. These results indicated that coupling WSE and CO2 could be an efficient strategy to enhance biofuel production by microalgae.

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The shells of the bivalve mollusks are organo-mineral structures predominantly composed of calcium carbonate, but also of a minor organic matrix, a mixture of proteins, glycoproteins, and polysaccharides. These proteins are involved in mineral deposition and, more generally, in the spatial organization of the shell crystallites in well-defined microstructures. In this work, we extracted different organic shell extracts (acid-soluble matrix, acid-insoluble matrix, water-soluble matrix, guanidine HCl/EDTA-extracted matrix, referred as ASM, AIM, WSM, and EDTAM, respectively) from the shell of the scallop Pecten maximus and studied their biological activities on human articular chondrocytes (HACs). We found that these extracts differentially modulate the biological activities of HACs, depending on the type of extraction and the concentration used. Furthermore, we showed that, unlike ASM and AIM, WSM promotes maintenance of the chondrocyte phenotype in monolayer culture. WSM increased the expression of chondrocyte-specific markers (aggrecan and type II collagen), without enhancing that of the main chondrocyte dedifferentiation marker (type I collagen). We also demonstrated that WSM could favor redifferentiation of chondrocyte in collagen sponge scaffold in hypoxia. Thus, this study suggests that the organic matrix of Pecten maximus, particularly WSM, may contain interesting molecules with chondrogenic effects. Our research emphasizes the potential use of WSM of Pecten maximus for cell therapy of cartilage.

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