Jatropha L. species, in particular, J. curcas and J. gossypiifolia, are well known medicinal plants used for treating various diseases. In the present study, leaf and stem bark extracts of J. curcas and J. gossypiifolia obtained by maceration or homogenizer assisted extraction, were investigated for their phytochemical contents and biological potential as antioxidants, enzyme inhibitors and neuromodulators. In this regard, the gene expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was investigated in hypothalamic HypoE22 cells. Finally, a bioinformatics analysis was carried out with the aim to unravel the putative mechanisms consistent with both metabolomic fingerprints and pharmacological effects. The leaf extracts of J. curcas showed higher total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) than the stem bark extracts (range: 5.79–48.95 mg GAE/g and 1.64–13.99 mg RE/g, respectively), while J. gossypiifolia possessed TPC and TFC in the range of 42.62–62.83 mg GAE/g and 6.97–17.63 mg RE/g, respectively. HPLC-MS/MS analysis revealed that the leaf extracts of both species obtained by homogenizer assisted extraction are richer in phytochemical compounds compared to the stem bark extracts obtained by the same extraction method. In vitro antioxidant potentials were also demonstrated in different assays (DPPH: 6.89–193.93 mg TE/g, ABTS: 20.20–255.39 mg TE/g, CUPRAC: 21.07–333.30 mg TE/g, FRAP: 14.02–168.93 mg TE/g, metal chelating activity: 3.21–17.51 mg EDTAE/g and phosphomolybdenum assay: 1.76–3.55 mmol TE/g). In particular, the leaf extract of J. curcas and the stem bark extract of J. gossypiifolia, both obtained by homogenizer assisted extraction, showed the most potent antioxidant capacity in terms of free radical scavenging and reducing activity, which could be related to their higher TPC and TFC. Furthermore, anti-neurodegenerative (acetylcholinesterase inhibition: 1.12–2.36 mg GALAE/g; butyrylcholinetserase inhibition: 0.50–3.68 mg GALAE/g), anti-hyperpigmentation (tyrosinase inhibition: 38.14–57.59 mg KAE/g) and antidiabetic (amylase inhibition: 0.28–0.62 mmol ACAE/g; glucosidase inhibition: 0.65–0.81 mmol ACAE/g) properties were displayed differentially by the different extracts. Additionally, the extracts were effective in reducing the gene expression of both TNFα and BDNF, which could be partially mediated by phenolic compounds such as naringenin, apigenin and quercetin. Indeed, the scientific data obtained from the present study complement the several other reports highlighting the pharmacological potentials of these two species, thus supporting their uses as therapeutically active plants.

Hungarian sour cherries (SC) are excellent source of anthocyanin (concentrations (100–300 mg in 100 g fresh fruit) and melatonin (0.15 mg in 100 g fresh fruit), but other flavonoid derivatives also can be isolated by aqueous alcoholic extraction. We have developed a new process for extracting non-extractable procyanidines bound to the membrane, proteins, and fibers. These compounds were seperated with UHPLC-MS methods, and the structure of individual components were identified on the basis of their mass fragmentation spectra. The antioxidant capacity of soluble and non-soluble antioxidants were measured with ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity (DPPH), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays, and compared to the new measurement methods of water-soluble antioxidant capacity (ACW), lipid-soluble antioxidant capacity (ACL). Furthermore, total phenolic content (TPC) and total procyanidin content (PAC) were determinated. As a result of our investigation, we found that the solvent combination, where in the first step is water–ethanol (1:1), then 100% ethanol were suitable for the extraction of the extractable antioxidants. However, the chemiluminescence method that is based on the elimination of the superoxide radical is more accurate than other colorimetric methods which measure antioxidant capacity.

The development of multi-drug-resistant bacteria pushed the scientific community to look for new alternatives to solve the problem. Propolis is a beehive substance and one of the richest natural products in bioactive compounds with antibacterial activity. This study was aimed to investigate the possible synergistic interaction between propolis and antibacterial drugs, such as essential oils (EOs) and antibiotics, in order to find increased activity with decreased concentrations. Two ethanol extracts of propolis were used for the test, which were collected from the north of Morocco. The chemical composition was determined by UHPLC-MS. The synergistic effect of propolis extracts with EOs and antibiotics was tested using the checkerboard technique. The chemical analysis showed the presence of more that 100 compounds in propolis extracts, belonging mainly to flavonoids. The combination of propolis with the other antibacterial drugs showed different types of interactions with FIC index values varied from 0.18 to 1, but no antagonist effect was noticed. With FICI<0.5, the synergistic effect was obtained with essential oils as well as with antibiotics. These results indicate that propolis can be a promising source of molecules with medical interest to treat bacterial infection and/or to increase the action of antibiotics.

This article provides results of an experimental investigation of hybrid- (MIR-FD), mid-infrared- (MIR) and freeze drying (FD) on the drying characteristics, energy consumption and quality parameters of pear. Rehydration ratio, color, texture, water activity, phenolic content and antioxidant activity were measured to evaluate the quality of dried pear products. Mid-infrared-freeze drying (MIR-FD) had the higher drying rate, which reduced the drying time by 14.3–42.9 % compared with FD method. Two empirical models were chosen to fit the drying curves and the models had the suitable R ² and RMSE values. Temperature characteristics of MIR and MIR-FD dried pear were determined in terms of interior temperature variation. The MIR-FD pear had darker color, better rehydration capacity, similar water activity, lower hardness (except of MIR-FD70°C) and highest content of chemical composition than single stage of FD products. Above all, the MIR50-60°C-FD was suggested as the best drying method for pear in this study.