Ensuring a sustainable source of nutritious food is critical for long-duration space missions. Thai landrace rice 466HM exhibits high nutritional value and stress resilience, making it a promising candidate for space cultivation, yet its response to low Earth orbit (LEO) conditions remains poorly understood. This study compared rice grains maintained under terrestrial conditions with grains stored aboard the Shijian-19 (SJ-19) reusable satellite, orbiting at ~336 km for 13.5 days under microgravity (2−7 × 10−7g) and an absorbed radiation dose of ~0.153 rad (Si). Volatile compound profiling, texture analysis of cooked grains, and simulated gastrointestinal digestion followed by peptide mass fingerprinting were performed. LEO-exposed rice grains exhibited a 1.67-fold increase in adhesiveness compared to Earth-based rice (p < 0.01), while hardness remained unchanged between the two groups (p > 0.05), alongside distinct alterations in flavor-related volatile compounds and peptide profiles. Principal component analysis revealed clear separation between Earth and LEO-exposed samples, indicating microgravity-associated shifts in digestible peptide composition. Cytotoxicity assessment using MTT assays in HT-29 and HepG2 cells confirmed the safety of both rice types. These findings demonstrate that orbital conditions influence the compositional, functional, and sensory attributes of rice, providing insights relevant to space agriculture and astronaut nutrition.
Coumarin-based molecular hybrids provide a framework for examining how structural changes influence cellular responses. This study compared four hybrids and three reference compounds across ten human cancer cell lines, with the lead hybrid also tested in non-cancerous Beas-2B cells, followed by functional assays and quantitative expression proteomics in HT-29 cells. Of 70 compound–cell-line combinations, the ferulic ester hybrid (FEC) was the only compound to yield a reproducibly measurable IC50 within the primary screening range, reaching 42.8 ± 4.7 µM in HT-29 cells. Replacing the ferulic moiety or the ester linkage reduced activity within this series. HCT116 cells did not reach 50% inhibition at up to 100 µM. Basal PPARγ abundance did not consistently explain sensitivity across the panel. FEC reduced metabolic activity and colony formation, whereas annexin V/propidium iodide analysis showed a smaller apoptotic response. Proteomics identified coordinated decreases in DNA replication and translation proteins and a modest increase in endoplasmic reticulum protein-folding enzymes. These findings support a structure-dependent and cell-context-dependent antiproliferative response despite moderate potency.