Bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes derived from pineapple (Ananas comosus) fruit and stem possessing several beneficial properties, particularly anti-inflammatory activity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the anti-inflammatory effects of bromelain are unclear. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory effects and inhibitory molecular mechanisms of crude and purified rhizome bromelains on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. RAW264.7 cells were pre-treated with various concentrations of crude bromelain (CB) or purified bromelain (PB), and then treated with LPS. The production levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators, including nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- were determined by Griess and ELISA assays. The expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthetase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-B), and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs)-signaling pathway-related proteins were examined by western blot analysis. The pre-treatment of bromelain dose-dependently reduced LPS-induced pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators, which correlated with downregulation of iNOS and COX-2 expressions. The inhibitory potency of PB was stronger than that of CB. PB also suppressed phosphorylated NF-B (p65), nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor alpha, extracellular signal-regulated kinases, c-Jun amino-terminal kinases, and p38 proteins in LPS-treated cells. PB then exhibited potent anti-inflammatory effects on LPS-induced inflammatory responses in RAW264.7 cells by inhibiting the NF-B and MAPKs-signaling pathways.

Textile waste usually ends up in landfills and causes environmental pollution. In this study, pretreatment methods for textile recycling, including autoclaving, freezing alkali/urea soaking, and alkaline pretreatment, were applied to textile waste with various cotton/polyester blending ratios. The best condition for enzymatic hydrolysis was a 60/40 textile waste blend of cotton/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with a reusable chemical pretreatment (15% NaOH) at 121 °C for 15 min. The hydrolysis of pretreated textile waste by cellulase was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). The optimized conditions were 30 FPU/g of enzyme loading and 7% of substrate loading, which resulted in a maximum observed value of hydrolysis yield at 89.7%, corresponding to the predicted value of 87.8% after 96 h of incubation. The findings of this study suggest an optimistic solution for textile waste recycling.

This research investigated the impact of the concentration of pineapple juice on the characteristics of pineapple wine during fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. burgundy. Three ratios of fresh pineapple juice to water were mixed to obtain three treatments, which were T1—2:1, T2—1:1, and T3—1:2. The °Brix and pH of all pineapple juice and water ratios were adjusted to 25 and 4, respectively. The results showed that changes in alcohol, pH, Total Soluble Solids (TSS), Total Titratable Acidity (TAA, as citric acid), and Volatile Acidity (VA, as acetic acid) during the 10-day fermentation among three treatments were significantly different. The highest alcohol content was obtained from the 2:1 with values of 10.71% (v/v). The mixed ratio at 1:1 and 1:2 obtained the alcohol value of 9.61 and 8.35% (v/v), respectively. After ten days of fermentation, TSS, pH values, TAA, and VA were in the range of 9.7–13 °Brix, 3.56–3.82, 0.384–0.448, and 0.0013–0.0016, respectively. However, the appearance, aroma, and taste of all ratios were not significantly different. Sweetness and overall liking, wine with pineapple juice/water ratio at 2:1 had the highest score (p ≤ 0.05). The total antioxidant activities determined by DPPH and total phenolic content were 0.91 mmol/L TE and 365.80 mg/L GAE, respectively, as confirmed by FTIR spectral analyses.

Mushrooms are incredibly valuable macro fungi that are an important and integral part of the ecosystem. In addition to being used as cuisine, mushrooms have been used for medicinal purposes for many centuries. This research applied a process for recovering β-glucan (BG) from the antler-type fruiting body of Ganoderma lucidum as well as tested the biological activities related to cosmeceutical applications. The characterization of complex structure was performed by fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (MNR) spectroscopies. The obtained extract contained 40.57% BG and 7.47% protein, with the detectable bioactivities of anti-tyrosinase and antioxidation. Consequently, it showed the activity that can be used to whiten the skin by reducing or inhibiting the process of skin pigmentation. The BG also showed moderate activities of anti-collagenase, anti-elastase, and anti-hyaluronidase. The test by the HET-CAM confirmed no skin irritation of the complex extract. Based on human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) test, the BG had no significant inhibiting effect on cell viability. In addition, the obtained BG had functional properties higher than commercially available BG, especially oil-binding capacity. These findings provided new insights into the potential application of G. lucidum BG as a polymeric material in the cosmeceutical industries.

Plum has long been cultivated in northern Thailand and evolved into products having long shelf lives. In this study, plum processing was analyzed by comparing the production of plum wine using three types of yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. burgundy, Hanseniaspora thailandica Zal1, and S. cerevisiae Lalvin EC1118. EC1118 exhibited the highest alcohol content (9.31%), similar to that of burgundy (9.21%), and H. thailandica Zal1 had the lowest alcohol content (8.07%) after 14 days of fermentation. Plum wine fermented by S. cerevisiae var. burgundy had the highest total phenolic (TP) content and antioxidant activity of 469.84 ± 6.95 mg GAE/L and 304.36 ± 6.24 µg TE/g, respectively, similar to that fermented by EC1118 (418.27 ± 3.40 mg GAE/L 288.2 ± 7.9 µg TE/g). H. thailandica Zal1 exhibited the least amount of TP content and antioxidant activity; however, the volatility produced by H. thailandica Zal1 resulted in a plum wine with a distinct aroma.

β-Glucan (BG), one of the most abundant polysaccharides containing glucose monomers linked by β-glycosidic linkages, is prevalent in yeast biomass that needs to be recovered to obtain this valuable polymer. This study aimed to apply alkaline and enzymatic processes for the recovery of BG from the yeast strain Kluyveromyces marxianus TISTR 5925. For this purpose, the yeast was cultivated to produce the maximum yield of raw material (yeast cells). The effective recovery of BG was then established using either an alkaline or an enzymatic process. BG recovery of 35.45% was obtained by using 1 M NaOH at 90 °C for 1 h, and of 81.15% from 1% (w/v) hydrolytic protease enzyme at 55 °C for 5 h. However, BG recovered by the alkaline process was purer than that obtained by the enzymatic process. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy confirmed the purity, the functional groups, and the linkages of BG obtained from different recovery systems and different raw materials. The results of this study suggest that an alkaline process could be an effective approach for the solubilization and recovery of considerable purity of BG from the yeast cells. In addition, the obtained BG had comparable functional properties with commercially available BG. This study reveals the effectiveness of both chemical and biological recovery of BG obtained from yeast as a potential polymeric material.