Chickpea hydrolysates could have antihypertensive potential, but there are no evaluations in vivo. Thus, the antihypertensive potential of a chickpea protein hydrolysate obtained before and after extrusion (a process that modifies protein digestibility) was evaluated. Protein precipitates were obtained from extruded and unextruded chickpea flours by isoelectric precipitation and hydrolyzed (α-amylase/pepsin/pancreatin). Chemical composition was determined (standard methods). ACE-I inhibition assays were carried out using a colorimetric test. For antihypertensive effect evaluations, spontaneously hypertensive rats (n = 8) received the treatments intragastrically (extruded or unextruded hydrolysate (1.2 g/kg), captopril (25 mg/kg), or water only). Fat, ash, and carbohydrate contents were lower in extruded chickpea flour (p < 0.05 versus unextruded). The protein content varied between protein precipitates (91.03%/78.66% unextruded/extruded (dry basis)) (p < 0.05). The hydrolysates’ IC50 values (mg/mL) were 0.2834 (unextruded)/0.3218 (extruded) (p > 0.05). All treatments lowered the blood pressure (p < 0.05 vs. water). The extruded hydrolysate showed a more potent antihypertensive effect than the unextruded one (p < 0.05), an effect similar to captopril (p > 0.05). The results suggest that protein extrusion can be used to generate protein hydrolysates with improved health benefits. The findings have implications for the design and production of functional foods that could help to prevent hypertension or serve as an adjunct in its treatment.

Giardia duodenalis is a significant cause of waterborne and foodborne infections, day-care center outbreaks, and traveler’s diarrhea worldwide. In protozoa such as Trichomonas vaginalis and Entamoeba histolytica, iron affects the growth, pathogenicity mechanisms, and expression of virulence genes. One of the proposed iron regulatory mechanisms is at the post-transcriptional level through an IRE/IRP-like (iron responsive element/iron regulatory protein) system. Recently, the expression of many putative giardial virulence factors in the free-iron levels has been reported in subsequent RNAseq experiments; however, the iron regulatory mechanism remains unknown. Thus, this work aimed to determine the effects of iron on the growth, gene expression, and presence of IRE-like structures in G. duodenalis. First, the parasite’s growth kinetics at different iron concentrations were studied, and the cell viability was determined. It was observed that the parasite can adapt to an iron range from 7.7 to 500 µM; however, in conditions without iron, it is unable to survive in the culture medium. Additionally, the iron modulation of three genes was determined by RT-PCR assays. The results suggested that Actin, glucosamine-6-phosphate deaminase, and cytochrome b5 mRNA were down-regulated by iron. To investigate the presence of IRE-like structures, in silico analyses were performed for different mRNAs from the Giardia genome database. The Zuker mfold v2.4 web server and theoretical analysis were used to predict the secondary structures of the 91 mRNAs analyzed. Interestingly, the iron-induced downregulation of the genes analyzed corresponds to the location of the stem–loop structures found in their UTR regions. In conclusion, iron modulates the growth and expression of specific genes, likely due to the presence of IRE-like structures in G. duodenalis mRNAs.

Eight Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme accessions from Mexico were evaluated for total phenolics (TP) and flavonoids (TF), phenolic profiles (UPLC-DAD-MS), antioxidant capacity (AC) (ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP), and expression of transcription factors (MYB12 and MYB14) and target genes (PAL, CHS and CHI) by RT-qPCR. The AC (mmol TE/kg fw; TE, Trolox Equivalents) by ABTS (5.27–11.81), DPPH (1.43–3.67), and FRAP (4.41–9.22) correlated with TP (0.53–1.20 g GAE/kg fw; GAE, Gallic Acid Equivalents), TF (1.03–2.10 g QE/kg; QE, Quercetin Equivalents), and the levels of chlorogenic and dicaffeoylquinic acids and rutin. The expression of MYB12 and MYB14 correlated with that of PAL and CHS, while CHI was only associated with MYB12. The accessions Tumbisca and Kilim showed the highest gene expression, phenolics content, and AC, suggesting they can be used in breeding programs to produce tomatoes with better AC.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds have a great diversity of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity, which is associated with the regulation of the phenylpropanoid pathway. We investigated this association in developing seeds (20 and 30 days after anthesis, DAA) from six chickpea genotypes (two kabuli and four desi). They were used to evaluate total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF), phenolic composition, antioxidant capacity (AC), and the relative expression of MYB transcription factors (CaMYB39, MYB111-like, and CaMYB92) and phenylpropanoid biosynthetic genes (PAL, CHI, and CHS). TP, TF, and the AC increased significantly during seed development, and the highest values were observed in desi genotypes. The AC correlated with the levels of TP, TF, and the flavonols myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin. The levels of the phenolic compounds and the AC also correlated positively with the expression of MYB transcription factors and phenylpropanoid biosynthetic genes. The expression of CaMYB39 correlated significantly with that of PAL, CHS, and CHI, indicating the potential use of this MYB factor to improve the content of phenylpropanoids. The desi genotype with black seeds (ICC 4418) showed the highest levels of gene expression, TP, TF, and AC, suggesting it can be used to produce chickpeas with enhanced nutraceutical properties.

Desi chickpea is an underused legume in Mexico and a valuable source of protein, carbohydrates, and bioactive compounds; however, chickpea must be processed for consumption. The objective of this study was to analyze the influence of optimized extrusion process variables on the nutritional, nutraceutical and techno-functional properties of whole desi chickpea flour. The ICC5383 genotype was extruded utilizing a single-screw extruder. The optimization was carried out by applying the response surface methodology and analyzing the effect of temperature (T: 90-150 °C) and screw speed (SS: 150-240 rpm). The optimized extrusion parameters were T: 150 °C and SS: 240 rpm. In vitro protein digestibility, absorption and water solubility were increased in optimized extruded chickpea flour compared to non-extruded chickpea flour. Antioxidant capacity, total phenolics and dispersibility index were not affected by extrusion. The oil absorption, emulsion capacity and stability, foam formation and stability decreased in extruded sample. The optimization of the extrusion process made chickpeas a source to generate multipurpose functional flour with good nutritional, nutraceutical and techno-functional characteristics that could be used as an ingredient in the production of healthy foods and beverages.