The role of natural antioxidants in preventing of age-relating diseases is evident. The vegetable industry generates a large amount of waste, which is a good source of antioxidants.

The global trend towards conscious consumption plays an important role in consumer preferences regarding both the composition and quality of food and packaging materials, including sustainable ones. The development of biodegradable active packaging materials could reduce both the negative impact on the environment due to a decrease in the use of oil-based plastics and the amount of synthetic preservatives. This review discusses relevant functional additives for improving the bioactivity of biopolymer-based films. Addition of plant, microbial, animal and organic nanoparticles into bio-based films is discussed. Changes in mechanical, transparency, water and oxygen barrier properties are reviewed. Since microbial and oxidative deterioration are the main causes of food spoilage, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of natural additives are discussed, including perspective ones for the development of biodegradable active packaging.

Dioscorea deltoidea is a medicinal plant valued for its high content of steroidal glycosides (SG)—bioactive compounds with cardioprotective and immunomodulation actions, also used to treat reproductive system disorders. To overcome the limitations of natural resources of this species, a suspension cell culture of D. deltoidea was developed as a renewable and ecologically sustainable source of raw biomass and SG. Cell culture demonstrated stable and intensive growth in the laboratory (20 L) and industrial (630 L) bioreactors operated under a semi-continuous regime (specific growth rate 0.11–1.12 day⁻¹, growth index 3.5–3.7). Maximum dry weight accumulation (8.5–8.8 g/L) and SG content (47–57 mg/g DW) were recorded during the stationary phase. Bioreactor-produced cell biomass contained inorganic macro (K, Ca, Mg, Na) and micro (Zn, Mn, Fe, B, Al, Cu, Cr, Se, Co, Ni) elements in concentrations within the safe range of dietary recommendations. Acute toxicity test showed no or insignificant changes in organ weight, hematological panel and blood biochemistry of laboratory animals fed with 2000 and 5000 mg/kg dry biomass. The results suggest that cell culture of D. deltoidea grown in bioreactors has great potential to be used as functional foods and a component of specialized dietary supplements in complex therapy of reproductive system disorders and mineral deficiency.

This article presents the original descriptions of some recent physics mechanisms (based on the thermodynamic, kinetic, and quantum tunnel effects) providing stable ²H/¹H isotope fractionation, leading to the accumulation of particular isotopic forms in intra- or intercellular space, including the molecular effects of deuterium interaction with ¹⁸O/¹⁷O/¹⁶O, ¹⁵N/¹⁴N, ¹³C/¹²C, and other stable biogenic isotopes. These effects were observed mainly at the organelle (mitochondria) and cell levels. A new hypothesis for heavy nonradioactive isotope fractionation in living systems via neutron effect realization is discussed. The comparative analysis of some experimental studies results revealed the following observation: “Isotopic shock” is highly probable and is observed mostly when chemical bonds form between atoms with a summary odd number of neutrons (i.e., bonds with a non-compensated neutron, which correspond to the following equation: Nn − Np = 2k + 1, where k ϵ Z, k is the integer, Z is the set of non-negative integers, Nn is number of neutrons, and Np is number of protons of each individual atom, or in pair of isotopes with a chemical bond). Data on the efficacy and metabolic pathways of the therapy also considered ²H-modified drinking and diet for some diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Friedreich’s ataxia, mitochondrial disorders, diabetes, cerebral hypoxia, Parkinson’s disease, and brain cancer.

The aim was to investigate prooxidant-antioxidant system in the blood and brain homogenates functional activity in rats with acute hypoxia model with different deuterium/protium (D/H) ratios in drinking diet. Studies have shown that consuming DDW (–665 ‰) within 8 weeks lead to deuterium concentration decrease in blood plasma at 317 ‰ and brain at 209 ‰ of rats, in comparison to control group, consuming natural water. DDW consumption before hypoxia modeling in rats improves antioxidant defense enzymes (catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase) activity in the blood, increasing its antioxidant potential by 20 %, while free radical oxidation intensity in plasma and biomolecules peroxide modification rate in erythrocytes. Also, in brain tissues consuming DDW, there were no abnormalities in catalase, superoxide dismutase activity, and it was noted increase (by 71 %) in reduced thiol-containing compounds concentration, which reduces nerve hypoxi? cell damage risk. Neuroprotective effect presence is confirmed by higher (by 32 %) antioxidant activity markers of lyophilized brain tissues, and by free radical oxidation lower intensity (by 13 %) and biomolecules oxidative modification rate (by 16 %) in these lyophilized tissues. Thus, the advisability of using DDW neuroprotective effects in cerebral circulation disturbance in experimental and clinical practice.