Thua-nao, or Thai fermented soybeans, is a traditional Lanna fermented food in Northern Thailand. It is produced by using a specific bacterial species called Bacillus subtilis var. Thua-nao. We investigated the antioxidant activity and cytotoxic effect of isoflavones from Thua-nao. The phenolic compound contents and total flavonoid contents were determined by spectrophotometry. The antioxidant activity was examined using the ABTS, FRAP, and DPPH assays. The isoflavone contents and phenolic compositions were examined by the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) techniques. The ability of isoflavones to inhibit human cancer cell growth was assessed by the MTT assay. The total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activities of the isoflavones were 49.00 ± 0.51 mg GAE/g of dry extract (DE), 10.76 ± 0.82 mg QE/g of DE, 61.03 ± 0.97 µmol Trolox/g of DE, 66.54 ± 3.97 µM FeSO4/g of DE, and 22.47 ± 1.92% of DPPH inhibition, respectively. Additionally, the isoflavone extracts from Thua-nao had high isoflavone contents and polyphenolic compound compositions, especially daidzein and genistein. The isoflavone demonstrated a weak inhibition of MCF-7 and HEK293 cancer cell growth. It has a high antioxidant component, which is beneficial and can be developed for new therapeutic uses. However, further studies on the benefits of Thua-nao should be performed for realizing better and more effective uses soon.
This research aimed to enhance the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of dried whole longan fruit using Maillard reaction or non-enzymatic glycosylation (glycation) in a moist-dry-heating system at 60 C with approximately 75% relative humidity for 5-50 days. During Maillard reaction, the browning index (BI) of the fruits increased significantly while lightless, redness and yellowness decreased. Interestingly, the rare sugars especially D-psicose and D-allose gradually increased by 2-3 folds when compared to the initial Maillard reaction. The development of D-mannose was additionally established through the glycation. The degree of glycation increased with the decrease of free amino acid, suggesting that conjugation of sugar with amino acids was involved. SDS-PAGE confirmed that the high molecular weight (HMW) of conjugated sugar-amino acid was the Maillard reaction product. The antioxidative properties including DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities, also ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were also increased as Maillard reaction progressed, which showed the activities in the range of 43.2-94.1 mg GAE/100 g dry basis, 0.23-3.09 g TE/100 g dry basis, and 0.35-5.95 g FeSO 4 /100 g dry basis, respectively. This study demonstrated a practical approach of Maillard reaction for the development of dried longan fruit with high antioxidative properties.
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