Pinecone is a traditional folk herb, which has been used in China for many years. In this paper, the essential oil from Pinus koraiensis pinecones (PEO) was obtained by hydrodistillation and 41 compounds were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), mainly including α-Pinene (40.91%), Limonene (24.82%), and β-Pinene (7.04%). The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-tumor activity of PEO on MGC-803 cells and its mechanism. Anti-tumor experiments in vitro showed PEO could significantly inhibit the proliferation and migration of MGC-803 cells, and it also could arrest the cell cycle in the G2/M phase, decrease the mitochondrial membrane potential, and induce apoptosis. Finally, the effects of PEO on genes expression on MGC-803 cells were analyzed by RNA sequencing, and results showed that after treatment with PEO, 100 genes were up-regulated, and 57 genes were down-regulated. According to the KEGG pathway and GSEA, FAT4, STK3, LATS2, YAP1, and AJUBA were down-regulated, which were related to HIPPO signaling pathway. Real-time PCR and western blot further confirmed the results of RNA sequencing. These results indicated that PEO may exert anti-tumor activity via the HIPPO/YAP signaling pathway. The anti-tumor mechanism of this oil can be further studied, which is important for the development of anti-tumor drugs.

Korean pine nut protein (PNP) has a variety of biological activities, which are good for human health, but its ability to preventing diabetes has not been reported. This study evaluated the effects of water-soluble proteins of Korean pine nut obtained from a dilute alkali extract on carbohydrate metabolism of type 2 diabetic mice on a model of diabetes induced using a high fat diet combined with streptozotocin. The results showed that the hypoglycemic effect of PNP at a middle dose was the most significant, which was 38.7% lower than that of control. The extract significantly improved the oral glucose tolerance and liver indexes, increased the activity of the carbohydrate metabolism enzymes, and regulated the expression of the function of key genes for carbohydrate metabolism. It had a positive effect on both insulin resistance and glycolytic/gluconeogenesis signaling. In conclusion, PNP can regulate fasting blood glucose, improve insulin resistance, correct the glucose metabolism disorder in diabetic mice, and have a positive regulatory role. As the functional food, it has the potential to be beneficial in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus as a new hypoglycemic functional food.

Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to find the optimal extraction process of Oudemansiella raphanipies polysaccharides (ORPs). The results showed that the optimal extraction parameters were an alkali concentration of 0.02 mol/L, a ratio of material to liquid of 1:112.7 g/mL, an extraction temperature of 66.0 °C, and an extraction time of 4.0 h. Under the optimal conditions, the yield of ORPs was raised to 16.2 ± 0.1%. The antioxidant activities of ORPs–I~V were determined and compared, and ORPs–V was further purified by chromatography, with an average molecular weight (Mw) of 18.86 kDa. The structure of ORPs–V was determined by Fourier transform–infrared spectroscopy (FT–IR), monosaccharide analysis, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The ORPs–V comprised fucose, rhamnose, arabinose, glucose, galactose, mannose, xylose, fructose, galacturonic acid, and glucuronic acid at a ratio of 1.73:1.20:1.13:2.87:8.71:2.89:1.42:0.81. Compared to other ORPs, ORPs–V showed the strongest antioxidant activities (ABTS radical cation, hydroxyl radical and DPPH scavenging activities, and reducing power), and were able to significantly increase the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, lactate dehydrogenase, and glutathione peroxidase. However, they reduced the malondialdehyde content in mice fed a high-fat diet. These results indicate that ORPs–V may be good anti–oxidant agents to be applied in functional foods.

Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to determine the optimal enzymatic hydrolysis conditions for obtaining antioxidant peptides from Musca domestica (MDPs). The results indicated that neutral protease was the most effective enzyme for producing MDPs. Under the optimized conditions (time: 3.2 h, temperature: 43.0°C, enzyme dosage: 5300.0 U/g, pH: 6.4), the DPPH radical scavenging rate of MDPs reached 70.9% ± 0.2%. The model demonstrated high reliability, as evidenced by the close agreement between experimental and predicted values, with R ² _adjusted and R ² _predicted both exceeding 0.9036. Subsequently, the particle size, zeta potentials, and structural features of MDPs were characterized using ultraviolet–visible (UV) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The analyses revealed statistically significant differences in the physicochemical properties among MDPs, MDPs _> 10 kDa , and MDPs _< 10 kDa . Furthermore, both MDPs _> 10 kDa and MDPs _< 10 kDa were rich in amino acids associated with antioxidant activity. Compared to MDPs _> 10 kDa , the MDPs _< 10 kDa exhibited superior antioxidant activities, including DPPH radical scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging, and reducing power. This study highlights the potential of M. domestica ‐derived peptides as natural antioxidants, supporting their future application in supplements, functional foods, and pharmaceuticals, and promoting the sustainable utilization of this resource.