The present study aims to assess the antioxidant and antiviral effectiveness of leaf extracts obtained from Olea europaea L. var. sativa and Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris. The total antioxidant activity was determined via both an ammonium phosphomolybdate assay and a nitric oxide radical inhibition assay. Both extracts showed reducing abilities in an in vitro system and in human HeLa cells. Indeed, after oxidative stress induction, we found that exposition to olive leaf extracts protects human HeLa cells from lipid peroxidation and increases the concentration of enzyme antioxidants such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase. Additionally, OESA treatment affects viral DNA accumulation more than OESY, probably due to the exclusive oleuropein content. In fact, subtoxic concentrations of oleuropein inhibit HSV-1 replication, stimulating the phosphorylation of PKR, c-FOS, and c-JUN proteins. These results provide new knowledge about the potential health benefits and mechanisms of action of oleuropein and oleuropein-rich extracts.

Owing to the richness of bioactive compounds, Olea europea leaf extracts exhibit a range of health effects. The present research evaluated the antibacterial and antiviral effect of leaf extracts obtained from Olea europea L. var. sativa (OESA) and Olea europea var. sylvestris (OESY) from Tunisia. LC-DAD-ESI-MS analysis allowed the identification of different compounds that contributed to the observed biological properties. Both OESA and OESY were active against Gram-positive bacteria (MIC values between 7.81 and 15.61 μg/mL and between 15.61 and 31.25 μg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 for OESY and OESA, respectively). The antiviral activity against the herpes simplex type 1 (HSV-1) was assessed on Vero cells. The results of cell viability indicated that Olea europea leaf extracts were not toxic to cultured Vero cells. The half maximal cytotoxic concentration (CC₅₀) values for OESA and OESY were 0.2 mg/mL and 0.82 mg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, both a plaque reduction assay and viral entry assay were used to demonstrate the antiviral activity. In conclusion, Olea europea leaf extracts demonstrated a bacteriostatic effect, as well as remarkable antiviral activity, which could provide an alternative treatment against resistant strains.

This study aims to evaluate the impact of incorporating pear, date, and apple by-products on pasta properties. Pasta properties including cooking quality, texture, color, rheology, thermal gelling, and microstructural characteristics were evaluated. Common wheat flour was substituted by 0, 2.5, 5, 7, and 10 g/100 g of by-products. To choose the best-suited substitute of flour for the preparation of pasta, the sensorial properties of pasta were investigated. Interrelationships between all the physicochemical parameters were investigated using multiple factor analysis. We also studied the impact of storage (7, 15, and 30 days) on the physicochemical proprieties of pasta. The results revealed that the chemical composition of pasta elaborated with by-products was characterized by higher energy (~386 Kcal) and fiber content (~13%) than the control pasta. Generally, materials added to the durum wheat pasta reduce optimum cooking time, adhesiveness, and extensibility, and enhance the swelling index, cooking loss, cooking water absorption, water activity, firmness, and tenacity of pasta. Cooked pasta samples were significantly (p < 0.05) darker (L*) and greener (-a*) than the control pasta. Increasing the rate of by-products from 2.5% to 10% principally altered the texture and structure of pasta. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the inclusion of by-products into pasta leads to a disruption of the protein matrix. A practical formulation (2.5% of by-products) can be selected, since a significant difference was detected between overall acceptability scores. Grouping the variables in the principal component analysis plot showed that pasta samples can be divided into three groups. Each group was correlated by a specific variable. A significant modification of the physical parameters of pasta was observed after 30 days of storage.

Olea europaea L. var. sativa (OESA) preparations are widely used in traditional medicine in the Mediterranean region to prevent and treat different diseases. In this research, olive extracts derived from the leaves of the OESA tree have been screened for antioxidant activity by two methods: the DPPH free radical scavenging assay (DPPH) and the Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. The DPPH assay showed that OESA possesses a stronger antioxidant activity (84%) at 1 mg/mL while the FRAP method showed a strong metal ion chelating activity (90%) at 1 mg/mL. The low IC₅₀ values, obtained by two different methods, implies that OESA has a noticeable effect on scavenging free radicals comparable to standards. During EBV infection, the free radicals increased triggering lipid oxidation. Therefore, the monitoring of the secondary lipid peroxidation products was done by measuring malonaldehyde (MDA) and conjugated dienes (DC). The simultaneous treatment of Raji cells with OESA and TPA, as an inductorof the lytic cycle, generated a significant decrease in MDA levels and DC (p < 0.05). Besides, Raji cells simultaneously exposed to TPA and OESA exhibited a percentage of EBV-positive fluorescence cells lower than TPA treated cells (**** p < 0.0001). This suggests that OESA treatment has a protective effect against EBV lytic cycle induction.

Cold-pressed moringa, milk thistle, and jujube seed oils were investigated in terms of their characteristic profiles, thermal properties, and oxidative stability. The findings proved that the extracted oils were characterized by high nutritional values, which encourages their use in various fields. Results showed significant differences between the obtained oils. Overall, jujube seed oil exhibited the best quality parameters, with acidity equal to 0.762 versus 1% for the moringa and milk thistle seed oils. Milk thistle seed oil showed absorbance in the UV-C (100–290 nm), UV-B (290–320 nm), and UV-A (320–400 nm) ranges, while the moringa and jujube seed oils showed absorbance only in the UV-B and UV-A ranges. Concerning bioactive compounds, jujube seed oil presented the highest content of polyphenols, which promoted a good scavenging capacity (90% at 10 µg/mL) compared to the moringa and milk thistle seed oils. Assessing the thermal properties of the obtained oils showed the presence of four groups of triglycerides in the moringa and milk thistle seed oils, and two groups of triglycerides in the jujube seed oil. The thermograms were constant at temperatures above 10 °C for milk thistle seed oil, 15 °C for jujube seed oil, and 30 °C for moringa seed oil, which corresponded to complete liquefaction of the oils. The extinction coefficients K₂₃₂ and K₂₇₀, monitored during storage for 60 days at 60 °C, proved that jujube seed oil had the highest polyphenols content and was the most stable against thermal oxidation.

This work aimed to study the osmotic-dehydration kinetics of pomegranate seeds (PSs) (Punica granatum L.) using three fruit (apple, bitter orange and grape) juice concentrates as osmotic solutions (OSs) (ratio (1/4) m/v, 55° Brix, at 50 °C). The osmodehydration time, pomegranate-seed water loss, solute gain and weight reduction were determined during the osmodehydration process. The equilibrium time periods of osmodehydration were 20, 60, 80 and 60 min for sucrose solution, and bitter-orange, apple and grape juice concentrates, respectively. The physico-chemical, biological and textural properties of PSs were significantly affected by the changes in OS. At the end of osmodehydration, the dry-matter and the Brix values were higher in all fruit-based OSs compared with sucrose OS. The color of PSs became darker in apple and grape OSs and brighter in bitter-orange OS compared with sucrose OS. On the other hand, all osmodehydrated PSs showed important antioxidant activity, with seeds osmodehydrated in grape-juice OS attaining an IC₅₀ of 49.25 meq GA/100 g DM. All observed changes were attributed to the difference in the composition of the different OS matrices. Moreover, the hedonic analysis showed that consumers preferred osmodehydrated PSs obtained using bitter-orange juice as OS.