Potato tocosh is a naturally processed potato for nutritional and curative purposes from traditional Peruvian medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute and sub-acute toxicity of tocosh flour (TF). For sub-acute toxicity, TF was administered orally to rats daily once a day for 28 days at doses of 1000 mg/kg body weight (BW). Animals were observed for general behaviors, mortality, body weight variations, and histological analysis. At the end of treatment, relative organ weights, histopathology, hematological and biochemical parameters were analyzed. For acute toxicity, TF was administered orally to mice at doses of 2000 and 5000 mg/kg BW at a single dose in both sexes. Body weight, mortality, and clinical signs were observed for 14 days after treatment. The results of acute toxicity showed that the median lethal dose (LD50) value of TF is higher than 2000 g/kg BW but less than 5000 mg/Kg BW in mice. Death and toxicological symptoms were not found during the treatment. For sub-acute toxicity, we found that no-observed-adverse-effect levels (NOAEL) of TF in rats up to 1000 g/kg BW. There were statistically significant differences in body weight, and relative organ weight in the stomach and brain. No differences in hematological and biochemical parameters were observed when compared with the control group. For sub-acute toxicity, histopathological studies revealed minor abnormalities in liver and kidney tissues at doses of 5000 mg/Kg. Based on these results, TF is a traditional Peruvian medicine with high safety at up to 1000 mg/kg BW for 28 days in rats.
Essential molecules are embedded within the millenary crop Tropaeolum tuberosum (mashua); these compounds are critical for the Andean people’s traditional diet and extensively utilized by the pharmaceutical industry in Peru. In the Andean region, conventional cropping techniques generate microtubers susceptible to a viral infection, which substantially endangers mashua’s production. Therefore, we developed an innovative in vitro technique condition for enhancing the agriculture process for micro tubers production. The temporary immersion system (TIS) permits the production of high-quality microtubers in a reduced space, a lower amount of time, and in large quantities compared with tubers grown under traditional conditions. To obtain T. tuberosum’s microtubers via TIS, we propagated seedlings, utilizing TIS-RITA® vessels. A set of immersion frequency times were evaluated. Interestingly, results showed that immersion at 2 min every 3 h was more beneficial compared with 2 min every 5 h based on microtubers produced after 10 weeks from the treatments, revealing an efficient frequency setting which outputted improved microtubers quality and production.
In this work, the structural and functional properties of proteins from black and yellow quinoa were assessed as well as the in vitro digestibility. Black quinoa flours contained higher amounts of crude fiber and lower amounts of total starch compared to the yellow counterpart. Structurally, electrophoretic SDS-PAGE bands corresponding to 50 kDa 11S globulin, and 55 kDa protein (under nonreducing conditions), and 31-33 kDa (under reducing conditions) were observed in both isolates. Fat absorption and water solubility indexes were comparatively lower in the black quinoa protein isolate. Both isolates showed a good nitrogen solubility index and emulsifying activity. In vitro protein digestibility was similar for both varieties (>95%). The addition of the protein isolates obtained from quinoa flours could be considered as a good alternative to increase the protein content of different foods taking advantage of key functional properties such as nitrogen solubility index and emulsifying activity.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer diagnosed worldwide and is the second leading cause of cancer-related death due to an insufficiency prognosis and is generally diagnosed in the last step of development. The Peruvian flora has a wide variety of medicinal plants with therapeutic potential in several diseases. Dodonaea viscosa Jacq. is a plant used to treat inflammatory process as well as gastrointestinal diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the cytotoxic, antiproliferative, and cell death-inducing effects of D. viscosa on colorectal cancer cells (SW480 and SW620). The hydroethanolic extract was obtained by maceration at 70% ethanol, the phytochemical constituents were identified by LC-ESI-MS. D. viscosa revealed 57 compounds some of them are: isorhamnetin, kaempferol, quercetin, methyl dodovisate B, hardwickiic acid, viscosol, and dodonic acid. Regarding the antitumoral activity, D. viscosa induced cytotoxic and antiproliferative activity in both SW480 and SW620 cancer cells, accompanied with, important changes in mitochondrial membrane potential, formation of the Sub G0/G1 population and increasing levels of apoptotic biomarkers (caspase 3 and the tumor suppressor protein p53) in the metastatic derivative cell line (SW620), suggesting an intrinsic apoptotic process after the treatment with the hydroethanolic extract of D. viscosa.
Tropaeolum tuberosum Ruíz and Pav. “Mashua” is a crop from the Andean region associated with preventing chronic degenerative diseases. This study evaluated the content of bioactive compounds (phenolics, glucosinolates, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid) in twenty-seven Peruvian mashua morphotypes. Furthermore, three morphotypes (MAC 067, MAC 092, and MAC 123) were selected to evaluate further the effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on the accumulation of bioactive compounds. Phenolic content in the mashua morphotypes ranged from 2990.76 ± 273.5 mg/kg to 24,217.36 ± 1144 mg/kg; whereas carotenoids ranged from 12.8 ± 0.6 mg/kg to 85.8 ± 3.1 mg/kg. Moreover, total glucosinolate content ranged from 65 ± 11 mmol/kg to 1289 ± 65 mmol/kg. The different mashua morphotypes showed low levels of ascorbic acid (lower than 5 mg/kg) compared with other crops. Except for glucosinolates, MeJA application augmented the level of bioactive compounds, showing increases of up to 150.1%, 535.0%, and 542% for total phenolics, carotenoids, and ascorbic acid, respectively. Results indicated that mashua is an excellent source of phenolics and glucosinolates, whereas it contains adequate levels of carotenoids and low levels of vitamin C. MeJA application during postharvest represented a simple approach to increase the content of bioactive compounds in mashua.
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