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Flavonoids, commonly found in various plants, are a class of poly-phenolic compounds having a basic structural
unit of 2-phenylchromone. Flavonoid compounds have attracted much attention due to their wide biological applications. In
order to facilitate further research on biomedical application of flavonoids, we surveyed the literature published on the use
of flavonoids in medicine during the past decade, documented the commonly found structures in natural flavonoids, and
summarized their pharmacological activities as well as associated mechanisms of action against variety of health disorders
including chronic inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular complications and hypoglycemia. In this mini-review, we provide
suggestions for further research on the biomedical applications of flavonoids.
Avenanthramides (AVAs), unique phytochemicals in oat, have attracted an increasing amount of attention due to their outstanding health benefits. However, the chemical profile and the levels of AVAs in commercial oat products as well as their health benefits have not been examined in detail. In the present study, a total of 29 AVA aglycones and AVA glucosides were identified and characterized from oat bran using NMR (1D and 2D NMR) and LC-MS techniques. Among them, 17 novel AVA glucosides were reported in oat bran for the first time. The most abundant AVA glucoside, 2c-3'- O-glc, had a similar growth inhibitory activity with the major AVA, 2c, against HCT-116 and HT-29 human colon cancer cells, indicating glucosylation does not affect the growth inhibitory effects of AVAs. Furthermore, the levels of all individual AVAs in 13 commercial oat products were analyzed using HPLC-MS/MS. The total AVAs contents in various oat products ranged from 9.22 to 61.77 mg/kg (fresh weight).
Saponins are one type of widespread defense compound in the plant kingdom and have been exploited for the production of lead compounds with diverse pharmacological properties in drug discovery. Oats contain two unique steroidal saponins, avenacoside A, 1, and avenacoside B, 2. However, the chemical composition, the levels of these saponins in commercial oat products, and their health effects are still largely unknown. In this study, we directly purified 5 steroidal saponins (1-5) from a methanol extract of oat bran, characterized their structures by analyzing their MS and NMR spectra, and also tentatively identified 11 steroidal saponins (6-16) on the basis of their tandem mass spectra (MS(n), n = 2-3). Among the five purified saponins, 5 is a new compound and 4 is purified from oats for the first time. Using HPLC-MS techniques, a complete profile of oat steroidal saponins was determined, and the contents of the two primary steroidal saponins, 1 and 2, were quantitated in 15 different commercial oat products. The total levels of these two saponins vary from 49.6 to 443.0 mg/kg, and oat bran or oatmeal has higher levels of these two saponins than cold oat cereal. Furthermore, our results on the inhibitory effects of 1 and 2 against the growth of human colon cancer cells HCT-116 and HT-29 showed that both had weak activity, with 2 being more active than 1.
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