Consumption of legumes has been shown to enhance health and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and specific types of cancer. ACE inhibitors, antioxidants, and synthetic anti-inflammatories are widely used today; however, they have several undesirable side effects. Thus, researchers have focused on finding ACE inhibitors, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory peptides from natural sources, such as legumes. Recently, in vitro and in vivo research has shown the bioactive peptides generated from legume protein hydrolysates, such as antioxidant, anti-hypertensive, anticancer, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, etc., in the context of different disease mitigation. Therefore, this review aims to describe the recent advances in in vitro and in vivo studies of antioxidant, anti-hypertensive and anti-inflammatory peptides isolated from legume-derived protein hydrolysates. The results indicated that antioxidant legumes peptides are characterized by short-chain sequence amino acids and possess anti-hypertensive properties by reducing systolic blood pressure (SBP) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR).

In the current era of globalization, synthetic dyes are one of the key factors of water pollution. Photocatalysis constitutes a promising technology for the treatment of wastewater, especially to those containing hard-to-remove organic compounds. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) play a vital role as a photocatalyst material. This research highlights the synthesized ZnONPs with roselle flower and oil palm leaf extract. The extracts and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) act as reducing agents during the synthesis process. Synthesis without the addition of plant extract is used as blank control for the experiment. Structural and optical studies of the three variants of ZnONPs were performed. High purity of ZnONPs with element Zn and O was obtained. The size of the three variants of ZnONPs was from 10–15 nm and found in agglomerated spherical shape. Large band gap, 3.2 eV was obtained by UV-Vis and high thermal stability was proven by TGA. Oxygen vacancies that assist in the degradation phenomenon were found in ZnONPs. Five percent of ZnONPs with the presence of 10 W UV light could effectively degrade 10 ppm MO in 5 h and MB in 3 h. Besides, high antioxidant properties and low toxicity demonstrated the ability of ZnONPs to be used as photocatalysts. In conclusion, ZnONPs can be further developed for pharmaceutical and industrial use.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) plays a multifunctional role in lipid biosynthesis, calcium storage, protein folding, and processing. Thus, maintaining ER homeostasis is essential for cellular functions. Several pathophysiological conditions and pharmacological agents are known to disrupt ER homeostasis, thereby, causing ER stress. The cells react to ER stress by initiating an adaptive signaling process called the unfolded protein response (UPR). However, the ER initiates death signaling pathways when ER stress persists. ER stress is linked to several diseases, such as cancer, obesity, and diabetes. Thus, its regulation can provide possible therapeutic targets for these. Current evidence suggests that chronic hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia linked to type II diabetes disrupt ER homeostasis, thereby, resulting in irreversible UPR activation and cell death. Despite progress in understanding the pathophysiology of the UPR and ER stress, to date, the mechanisms of ER stress in relation to type II diabetes remain unclear. This review provides up-to-date information regarding the UPR, ER stress mechanisms, insulin dysfunction, oxidative stress, and the therapeutic potential of targeting specific ER stress pathways.

Context: Syzygium polyanthum has been traditionally formulated by the folklore for the treatment of diseases including diarrhea, rheumatism, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, gastritis and hyperuricemia. Normally, its phytochemicals are always extracted using solvent, maceration and steam distillation methods, but the use of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method is still not well documented. Aims: This study aims to extract the phytochemical compounds present in S. polyanthum leaves using UAE and to identify them by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Methodology: The leaves were consecutively soaked with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol in a bath sonicator to derive n-hexane (HSP), ethyl acetate (EASP), and methanol (MSP) extracts of S. polyanthum leaves and then the extracts were subjected to GC-MS analysis. Mass-spectral databases of peaks were compared with database from Wiley, NIST and FNSCC libraries for compound identification. Results: GC-MS analyses of HSP, EASP and MSP showed the presence of 21, 27, and 31 peaks, respectively. The major compound for HSP (31.912%), EASP (27.042%), and MSP (22.386%) were unknown compounds which were detected at retention time between 61.980 and 62.29 min, thus requires further characterization. Squalene and phytol were among the other major compounds present in all three extracts. Several identified compounds in the extracts such as squalene, phytol, hentriacontane, palmitic acid, α-pinene, nerolidol, linalool, α-tocopherol and β-tocopherol were known bioactive compounds. Conclusion: GC-MS analyses of n-hexane (HSP), ethyl acetate (EASP), and methanol (MSP) of S. polyanthum leaves extracts have revealed the presence of some known bioactive compounds with therapeutic importance.