Young green barley (YGB) water extract has revealed a beneficial impact on natural killer (NK) cells’ ability to recognize and eliminate human colon cancer cells, without any side effects for normal colon epithelial cells. The direct anticancer effect of the tested compounds has been also shown. The mixture of oligosaccharides found in this extract was characterized by chemical analyses and via FT-IR spectroscopy and MALDI-TOF MS techniques. The YGB preparation contained 26.9% of proteins and 64.2% of sugars, mostly glucose (54.7%) and fructose (42.7%), with a small amount of mannose (2.6%) and galactose (less than 0.5%). Mass spectrometry analysis of YGB has shown that fructose oligomers contained from 3 to 19 sugar units. The number of fructans was estimated to be about 10.2% of the dry weight basis of YGB. The presented results suggest the beneficial effect of the consumption of preparations based on young barley on the human body, in the field of colon cancer prevention.

Introduction and objective: For many years vitamin D3 was known only as a regulator of the calcium-phosphate and water-electrolyte balances. Recent studies have paid special attention to other biological effects of calcitriol (the bioactive form of vitamin D3) with particular emphasis on its...

The present study aimed to demonstrate Lentinus (formerly Pleurotus) sajor-caju (PSC) as a good source of pro-health substances. It has also shown that supplementation of its culture medium with cow milk may further improve its beneficial properties. Intracellular fractions from fungi grown on a medium supplemented with cow milk were analyzed using various biochemical methods for determination of the nutrient composition. Furthermore, anti-cancer properties of selected extracts were investigated on colorectal cancer cell lines (HT-29, LS 180, and SW948) in vitro. Biochemical analysis showed enrichment in health-enhancing compounds, such as proteins or polysaccharides (about 3.5- and 4.5-fold increase in concentration of proteins and carbohydratesin extracts of mycelia cultured on whole milk (PSC2-I), respectively), with a decrease in the level of free radicals (10-fold decrease in extract grown on milk and medium mixture (1:1) (PSC3-II)), which was related to increased catalase and superoxide dismutase activity (7.5-fold increase in catalase activity and 5-fold in SOD activity in PSC3-II compared to the control). Moreover, the viability of the cancer cells was diminished (to 60.0 ± 6.8% and 40.0 ± 8.6% of the control, on HT-29 and SW948 cells, respectively), along with pro-apoptotic (to 18.8 ± 11.8 and 14.7 ± 8.0% towards LS 180 and SW948 cells, respectively) and NO-secreting effects (about 2-fold increase) of the extracts. This study suggests that PSC has multiple nutritional and anti-cancer properties and can be used as a source of healthy biomolecules in modern medicine or functional foods.

Vitamin D3 deficiency has been recognized as a pandemic with serious health consequences including chronic respiratory diseases. Unfortunately, improvement in this situation by using vitamin D supplementation has failed. The direct delivery of 1,25(OH)₂-vitamin D3 and its precursor into the respiratory tract, by nebulization, seemed to be a better option, as verified in the presented study. To induce vitamin D deficiency, mice received a diet with 0.05 IU/g cholecalciferol, while control animals were given feed with 0.5 IU/g cholecalciferol. Vitamin-D-deficient mice were exposed to different doses of calcidiol or calcitriol via nebulization for at least 7 days. At the end of the experiment, whole-body plethysmography was conducted. Pulmonary and serum levels of calcitriol were examined using ELISA. The calcitriol concentrations in mice on standard vs. deficient diet were 30.31/18.20 pg/mg (lungs) and 132.24/98.61 pg/mL (serum), respectively. Restoration of the physiological level of calcitriol in vitamin-D-deficient mice required 1-week exposure to 100 pg/g of calcidiol or 5 pg/g of calcitriol. The inhalations did not cause any side changes in murine respiratory function. The presented study revealed the usefulness and safety of chronic inhalation with a bioactive form of vitamin D3 or its precursor for the restoration of physiological calcitriol levels in animals with vitamin D deficiencies.

Despite numerous scientific reports on the negative impact of vitamin D3 deficiency on many respiratory diseases, little is known about the influence of this phenomenon on the development and progression of hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). The presented study is an attempt to shed light on this occurrence. The research was performed on mouse strain C57BL/6J exposed to the antigen of Pantoea agglomerans (etiological factor of HP). To induce vitamin D3 deficiency, mice received a diet with a 10 times lower amount of cholecalciferol than the main control group. VD3-deficient mice inhaled 25(OH)-VD3 or 1,25(OH)2-VD3 used separately or with SE-PA. At the beginning of the experiment and after 14 and 28 days of inhalation, respiratory function was examined using whole-body plethysmography. Moreover, at indicated time points, mice were sacrificed and samples collected for histological examination, flow cytometry, and ELISA. The performed study revealed that inhalations with 25(OH)-VD3 and 1,25(OH)2-VD3 effectively eliminated most of the negative changes in the respiratory system caused by vitamin D3 deficiency by restoring the physiological concentration of 1,25(OH)₂-VD3 in the body. VD3-deficient mice which inhaled P. agglomerans antigen and vitamin D3 metabolites also demonstrated the ability of the tested compounds to eliminate, or at least weaken, the negative effects of the HP causative factor and desired effect, including improvement of respiratory functions and attenuation of inflammation and signs of fibrosis. The obtained results suggested that the beneficial influence of inhaled vitamin D3 metabolites on HP development was associated with the restoration of the physiological concentration of 1,25(OH)2-VD3 in the pulmonary compartments in VD3-deficient mice.