Corn bract is a corn-based agricultural waste material that distributed worldwide. In present work, response surface methodology was applied to optimize the cellulase-assisted extraction of Total Flavonoids from Corn Bract (TFCB), the in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial as well as the in vivo antioxidant activities of TFCB were investigated. Results showed that the optimal conditions for TFCB extraction were as follows: Amount of cellulase, 0.4% (w/w); incubation time, 2 h; liquid-to-solid ratio, 35: 1 mL/g; ethanol concentration, 71% (v/v); TFCB yield was 1.284±0.01%, which was 25.39% higher than that of heat reflux extraction. In addition, when compared with vitamin C, TFCB showed weaker in vitro free radical-scavenging capacities, but stronger antioxidant activities in mice. Moreover, TFCB also exerted certain inhibitory effects against Gram-positive bacteria. This study will provide an evidence for the potential of comprehensive utilization of discarded corn bract.
Medicago hispida is one of the most widely distributed and commonly cultivated plants of the genus Medicago in China. It is mainly consumed as a vegetable. In this paper, the extraction, chemical composition and antimicrobial potential of the essential oil from fresh M. hispida (EOFMH) were conducted and evaluated for the first time. The extraction yield of EOFMH was found to be 0.27% and 27 compounds were identified in EOFMH by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) with the highest level of phytol, accounting for 48.8%. EOFMH exhibited certain inhibitory effects against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis, particularly its antibacterial activity against E. coli was equivalent to that of chloramphenicol. Results obtained from present work provided strong evidence that EOFMH could be considered as a phytol-rich natural product and a new source of nature-based antibacterial agent to be applied in industry.
Camellia japonica is one of the most economically valuable species that can be taxonomically placed in the Theaceae family. Many horticultural varieties of C. japonica have been cultivated as ornamental trees worldwide, owing to their charming flowers. However, young C. japonica flowers usually drop in a "decapitated" form during the peak flowering stage, causing a resource waste. In this study, Essential Oils from the Dropped C. japonica Flowers (EODCJF) were extracted with hydrodistillation and process was optimized by response surface methodology. The chemical profile and antibacterial activity were tested by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and by disc diffusion, respectively. The optimal extraction parameters were: Immersion time of 9 h, extraction time of 8 h and liquid-to-solid ratio of 39: 1 (mL/g), under these conditions, the yield was 3.20%. The actual yield was in compliance with the predicted result with an error margin of 3.61%. Thirty-three volatile compounds accounting for 94.46% were authenticated in EODCJF with alkanes of 53.96% and alcohols of 28.59%, respectively. EODCJF exerted certain antibacterial capacities against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus pumilus. Their antibacterial activities could be contributed by the long-chain alcohols in EODCJF and alkanes may potentiate the dispersion of these liposoluble alcohols in EODCJF.
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