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.

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.

Bromelain, a mixture of proteases in pineapple rhizome, has beneficial biological properties. Following absorption, the compound remains biologically active in mammalian blood and tissues. Bromelain has multiple clinical and therapeutic applications because of its anti-arthritic activities. Anti-inflammation is one of the putative therapeutic effects of bromelain on osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the molecular mechanisms in cartilage and synovial fibroblast has not been reported. Thus, in this study, interleukin (IL)-1β/oncostatin M-induced porcine cartilage and TNF-α–induced synovial fibroblast were used as the inflamed OA and RA models, respectively. The results demonstrated the chondroprotective effects of bromelain on cartilage degradation and the downregulation of inflammatory cytokine (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8) expression in TNF-α–induced synovial fibroblasts by suppressing NF-κB and MAPK signaling. The evidence from this study supported and explained the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of bromelain on arthritis in animal models and clinical studies.

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.

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.

This study used Fourier transform-near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy equipped with the liquid probe in combination with an efficient wavelength selection method named searching combination moving window partial least squares (SCMWPLS) for the determination of ethanol, total soluble solids, total acidity, and total volatile acid contents in pineapple fruit wine fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. burgundy. Two fermentation batches were produced, and the NIR spectral data of the calibration samples in the wavenumber range of 11,536–3952 cm⁻¹ were obtained over ten days of the fermentation period. SCMWPLS coupled with second derivatives searched and optimized spectral intervals containing useful information for building calibration models of four parameters. All models were validated by test samples obtained from an independent fermentation batch. The SCMWPLS models showed better predictions (the lowest value of prediction error and the highest value of residual predictive deviation) with acceptable statistical results (under confidence limits) among the results achieved by using the whole region. The results of this study demonstrated that FT-NIR spectroscopy using a liquid probe coupled with SCMWPLS could select the optimized wavelength regions while reducing spectral points and increasing accuracy for simultaneously monitoring the evolution of four chemical parameters in pineapple fruit wine fermentation.