Differences in the content of nine phenols and the antioxidant capacity of Ribes stenocarpum Maxim (RSM) fruits at different stages of maturity were investigated, and the extraction process of polyphenols from RSM was also optimized using Box-Behnken design method. Results showed that the content of the nine phenols varied considerably at different ripening stages; catechin, chlorogenic acid, coumaric acid, and ferulic acid were abundant in immature fruits but decreased with fruit ripening, whereas the levels of rosemary acid and querctin acid were low in immature fruits and increased with time, reaching the highest value after the fruit was completely mature. The phenols extracted from RSM fruits possessed good antioxidant activities for effective and rapid scavenging of DPPH and ABTS free radicals, as well as intracellular ROS. Analysis of the phenols content at different maturity stages indicated that the unripe fruits had significantly higher polyphenols content than mature fruits. Consequently, unripe fruits possessed higher antioxidant activities. According to the overall results of the extraction process optimization, the selected optimal conditions for extracting polyphenols from RSM were as follows: extraction time, 95 min; solvent concentration, 60%; ratio of sample to solvent, 1:25.

Amino acids are indispensable components of living organisms. The high amino acid content in Nitraria tangutorum Bobr. fruit distinguishes it from other berry plants and is of great significance to its nutritional value. Herein, using 10-ethyl-acridine-3-sulfonyl chloride as a fluorescent pre-column labeling reagent, a method for the efficient and rapid determination of amino acid content in N. tangutorum by pre-column fluorescence derivatization and on-line mass spectrometry was established and further validated. The limits of detection (signal-to-noise ratio = 3) were between 0.13 and 1.13 nmol/L, with a linear coefficient greater than 0.997 and a relative standard deviation between 1.37% and 2.64%. In addition, the method required a short analysis time, separating 19 amino acids within 20 min. Subsequently, the method was used to analyze the amino acid content of Nitraria tangutorum Bobr. from tissues retrieved from seven regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Nitraria tangutorum Bobr. was shown to contain a large amount of amino acids, with the total content and main amino acid varying between the different tissues. This research supports the nutritional evaluation, quality control, and development and utilization of Nitraria tangutorum Bobr.

In this work, an efficient method for the rapid extraction and separation of antioxidant phenols was developed and optimized. The method was then applied to extract and separate nine phenols from 37 varieties of raspberry, in which their antioxidant activities were further investigated. First, the extraction was conducted using ultra-sonication, which was then further separated using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography/ultraviolet (RP-HPLC/UV) analysis. In this step, several key parameters (volume of the extraction reagent, time of extraction, and the temperature of extraction) affecting its efficiency were investigated and optimized using the response surface methodology (RSM) combined with the Box–Behnken design (BBD) so that the optimal conditions were obtained. According to the overall results of the optimization study, the optimal conditions were chosen as follows: volume of extraction reagent = 2.0 mL, time of extraction = 50.0 min, and temperature of extraction = 50 °C. The optimal conditions were then applied to extract nine phenols, including gallic acid, catechin, chlorogenic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid, cumaric acid, ferulic acid, rosemary acid, and quercetin from 37 raspberry varieties. The extracted phenols were characterized and their antioxidant activities, including DPPH⁻ and ABTS⁻ free radical scavenging and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) activity, using HepG2 cells as the model, were subsequently studied. The findings suggested that although their contents varied among most raspberry varieties, these phenols significantly contributed toward their antioxidant capacity and scavenging intracellular ROS activities. This study provides a scientific and theoretical basis for the selection of raspberry varieties and product development in Qinghai province.

Hippophae neurocarpa are dioecious deciduous shrubs, diffused in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau at high altitude. Here, we report the complete chloroplast genome of H. neurocarpa. The chloroplast genome is found to be 156,316 bp in length with 36.65% GC contents. The chloroplast genome sequences contained 124 genes, including 78 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. The complete chloroplast genome of H. neurocarpa will be beneficial for identifying molecular markers for further conservation and utilization of these multipurpose natural resources.

Ribes stenocarpum Maxim. serves as raw material to optimize the supercritical CO2 extraction process of seeds oil by response surface methodology. The components of seeds oil of Ribes stenocarpum Maxim. (RSO) were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC), and its antioxidation and anti-fatigue activities were also investigated. The findings indicated that the maximum oil yield of Ribes stenocarpum Maxim. by SC-CO2 was 23.59% under the conditions of 38.0°C, 180 min, 32.0 MPa, 5.0 mL/min CO2 flow rate. GC analysis showed that unsaturated fatty acid content of RSO was 85.08%. In vitro antioxidant assays demonstrated that RSO had the most potent hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, achieving 90% at a dosage of 0.9%. The anti-fatigue activity assessment showed that RSO could significantly prolong the forced swimming time of mice, decrease the levels of lactic acid (LD), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and liver malondialdehyde (MDA), and increase the activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in liver tissue. The results of the study demonstrated that RSO has the ability to enhance glycogen storage in the body, enhance antioxidant capacity, and provide notable anti-fatigue activity.